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 Austria 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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Barry Ungar to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All Rhythim Is Rhythim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fort Wilson Riot 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Siglo XX record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nas,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Slick Rick,
Ultra Naté,
Chris & Cosey,
Newcleus,
The Residents,
Traffic Nightmare,
Bauhaus,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Stooges,
John Holt,
Roger Hodgson,
The Young Rascals,
Excepter,
Arab on Radar,
Gang Green,
Crispian St. Peters,
Brothers Johnson,
Johnny Clarke,
Colin Newman,
Popol Vuh,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Evens,
The Buckinghams,
Moebius,
Sun Ra,
Tres Demented,
Wally Richardson,
Groovy Waters,
Faust,
Soul II Soul,
The Monks,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Warren Ellis,
Gang Starr,
Maleditus Sound,
Minnie Riperton,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
X-Ray Spex,
The Sound,
The Offenders,
CMW,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Brick,
The Invisible,
Jacques Brel,
Unrelated Segments,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
H. Thieme,
Chris Corsano,
Crash Course in Science,
the Normal,
Mo-Dettes,
Drive Like Jehu,
Country Teasers,
Magma,
ABC,
Japan,
Anakelly,
The Fall,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.