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 Peru and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Unwound to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 X-101. All the underground hits.
All Dual Sessions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sällskapet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Dolphy,
Make Up,
Shuggie Otis,
Technova,
The Martian,
The Index,
Ludus,
John Foxx,
Fatback Band,
Bauhaus,
The Tremeloes,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Half Japanese,
Sister Nancy,
Harmonia,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Joyce Sims,
Joe Finger,
The Stooges,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Flipper,
Lou Christie,
Scratch Acid,
The Motions,
The Music Machine,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Bobby Byrd,
Rakim,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Fall,
Rekid,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Traffic Nightmare,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
the Germs,
Motorama,
Max Romeo,
Cheater Slicks,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Liliput,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Delon & Dalcan,
Spandau Ballet,
Gang Green,
Byron Stingily,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Radiohead,
The Blackbyrds,
Pantaleimon,
Johnny Clarke,
The Names,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Schoolly D,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Skaos,
Godley & Creme,
Lindisfarne,
Colin Newman,
KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One.
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.