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 Barbados and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 U.S. Maple to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Crime. All the underground hits.
All Gian Franco Pienzio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 linndrum and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Guru Guru record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scientists,
Amazonics,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Loose Ends,
Bush Tetras,
Alice Coltrane,
JFA,
Aloha Tigers,
Mars,
The Tremeloes,
X-101,
AZ,
John Lydon,
the Soft Cell,
Bootsy Collins,
Public Enemy,
The Blues Magoos,
The Gories,
Deepchord,
Soft Machine,
Cameo,
Joyce Sims,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sex Pistols,
Delta 5,
The Victims,
Gichy Dan,
Tom Boy,
Bobby Womack,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Stooges,
Gong,
Scott Walker,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Cecil Taylor,
Little Man,
Minny Pops,
Alison Limerick,
Lucky Dragons,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Schoolly D,
Pulsallama,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Eve St. Jones,
Sugar Minott,
Siglo XX,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Fugazi,
The Shadows of Knight,
Joy Division,
Radiopuhelimet,
Oblivians,
Arab on Radar,
Fluxion,
Jeff Lynne,
Donny Hathaway,
The Raincoats,
Masters at Work,
Theoretical Girls,
Reagan Youth,
Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes.
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.