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 Sweden and from Houston.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 snare 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 Scrapy to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Skaos. All the underground hits.
All The Jesus and Mary Chain tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joey Negro 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a kango's stein massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Connie Case,
Smog,
Country Teasers,
Technova,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
China Crisis,
Rotary Connection,
Donny Hathaway,
Khruangbin,
Los Fastidios,
The Doors,
Kas Product,
Stockholm Monsters,
Thompson Twins,
These Immortal Souls,
the Germs,
Pantytec,
Gastr Del Sol,
Masters at Work,
Wire,
Bob Dylan,
PIL,
Swell Maps,
Terry Callier,
Y Pants,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Grey Daturas,
Moss Icon,
Scratch Acid,
Severed Heads,
Essential Logic,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
One Last Wish,
Agent Orange,
Underground Resistance,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Fuzztones,
Sonic Youth,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Dave Gahan,
The Flesh Eaters,
Depeche Mode,
Bobby Womack,
The Smiths,
Saccharine Trust,
Oblivians,
Johnny Clarke,
Iggy Pop,
Rhythm & Sound,
Faraquet,
Bronski Beat,
Traffic Nightmare,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Au Pairs,
Soulsonic Force,
The Index,
Albert Ayler,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Marc Almond,
the Bar-Kays,
The Evens,
T.S.O.L.,
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.