Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Taiwan and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Spoonie Gee to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Kerrie Biddell. All the underground hits.
All The Young Rascals tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Clarke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flipper record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
Basic Channel,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Index,
Marine Girls,
Pussy Galore,
Jeff Mills,
Joensuu 1685,
Public Image Ltd.,
Swans,
Youth Brigade,
Grey Daturas,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
JFA,
Robert Görl,
Mandrill,
Technova,
La Düsseldorf,
The Slits,
James Chance & The Contortions,
the Sonics,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Iggy Pop,
Zero Boys,
UT,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Sarah Menescal,
Colin Newman,
Slick Rick,
Average White Band,
Steve Hackett,
Faust,
Silicon Teens,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Subhumans,
Spandau Ballet,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Angels of Light,
Wings,
Gabor Szabo,
X-101,
Gang Green,
Altered Images,
Bobby Womack,
Max Romeo,
The Pretty Things,
The Fall,
Crime,
Clear Light,
Girls At Our Best!,
Sight & Sound,
Soulsonic Force,
Pere Ubu,
MDC,
The Evens,
Johnny Osbourne,
Todd Terry,
Depeche Mode,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bronski Beat,
Archie Shepp,
Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.