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 Cameroon and from Tokyo.
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 Copenhagen and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 güiro 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 Maurizio to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Scientists. All the underground hits.
All Royal Trux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mad Mike record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Al Stewart,
Brick,
The Slackers,
Kaleidoscope,
Sexual Harrassment,
Spandau Ballet,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
La Düsseldorf,
Los Fastidios,
the Soft Cell,
The Fortunes,
Scratch Acid,
Wire,
Ralphi Rosario,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Monks,
Bang On A Can,
PIL,
Deadbeat,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Judy Mowatt,
Erasure,
Public Enemy,
The Buckinghams,
Brass Construction,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Eden Ahbez,
Ituana,
Dennis Brown,
Moebius,
Nick Fraelich,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Newcleus,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Roy Ayers,
10cc,
U.S. Maple,
Monolake,
Nik Kershaw,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Gun Club,
B.T. Express,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Bush Tetras,
John Foxx,
Reuben Wilson,
Crooked Eye,
Maleditus Sound,
Althea and Donna,
Glenn Branca,
Easy Going,
Dead Boys,
Kas Product,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Cameo,
Chrome,
Stereo Dub,
Leonard Cohen,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.