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 Andorra and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Thee Headcoats to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Country Teasers. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Agitation Free record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bad Manners record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kenny Larkin,
Donald Byrd,
The Flesh Eaters,
Albert Ayler,
Alton Ellis,
Urselle,
Darondo,
Kevin Saunderson,
Magma,
Babytalk,
Robert Görl,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Flash Fearless,
OOIOO,
JFA,
Todd Rundgren,
Jimmy McGriff,
B.T. Express,
Blake Baxter,
Metal Thangz,
Scrapy,
The Grass Roots,
Johnny Clarke,
Sexual Harrassment,
Bootsy Collins,
Mandrill,
Isaac Hayes,
Nirvana,
Severed Heads,
Aswad,
X-101,
Deadbeat,
New York Dolls,
The Buckinghams,
X-102,
Max Romeo,
Maurizio,
Schoolly D,
Cecil Taylor,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Eden Ahbez,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
CMW,
ABBA,
The Offenders,
Technova,
Henry Cow,
A Certain Ratio,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Second Layer,
Dawn Penn,
Public Enemy,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Los Fastidios,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Index,
Pole,
Todd Terry,
Kerri Chandler,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Invisible,
Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms.
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.