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 South Sudan and from Accra.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Manchester.
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 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 Sight & Sound to the grunge 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 Lyres. All the underground hits.
All The Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camberwell Now record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David Bowie record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Ultravox,
Aswad,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Nas,
Boogie Down Productions,
Bill Near,
Bobby Byrd,
The Toasters,
Skriet,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
X-101,
Hardrive,
Panda Bear,
Can,
Organ,
Procol Harum,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Human League,
Pantytec,
The Smoke,
Faust,
Ralphi Rosario,
Agent Orange,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Crooked Eye,
Donny Hathaway,
MC5,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Doors,
Glambeats Corp.,
Flamin' Groovies,
Scan 7,
Magma,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Slackers,
the Association,
Steve Hackett,
The Cowsills,
Suburban Knight,
Saccharine Trust,
Adolescents,
Jerry's Kids,
Peter & Gordon,
Infiniti,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Gap Band,
Big Daddy Kane,
Freddie Wadling,
Reuben Wilson,
OOIOO,
Rotary Connection,
The Martian,
Altered Images,
Isaac Hayes,
Joe Smooth,
The Buckinghams,
David McCallum,
Crime,
The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats.
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.