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 India and from Edmonton.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the marimba 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 Pantaleimon to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Colin Newman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dawn Penn,
Soft Machine,
The Velvet Underground,
Outsiders,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Malaria!,
Negative Approach,
Warren Ellis,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Royal Trux,
Amon Düül II,
Sun City Girls,
Johnny Osbourne,
Audionom,
Massinfluence,
Brass Construction,
Mo-Dettes,
Lower 48,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Star Department,
Severed Heads,
Juan Atkins,
The Dave Clark Five,
Warsaw,
Sister Nancy,
Hot Snakes,
Youth Brigade,
Brick,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Au Pairs,
Main Source,
Bootsy Collins,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The J.B.'s,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Alarm Clocks,
Wire,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Robert Wyatt,
Steve Hackett,
Urselle,
Barbara Tucker,
Kerri Chandler,
Oneida,
Aswad,
Pagans,
Reagan Youth,
Dark Day,
Sällskapet,
Gang Green,
Lindisfarne,
Barclay James Harvest,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
David Axelrod,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Groovy Waters,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Radiopuhelimet,
Tubeway Army,
Soulsonic Force,
Ralphi Rosario,
Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell.
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.