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 Lesotho and from Lyon.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Beijing.
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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Tim Buckley to the grunge 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 Kerri Chandler. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Hutcherson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Victims record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Thee Headcoats,
Rotary Connection,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
OOIOO,
The Modern Lovers,
Lindisfarne,
Eric Dolphy,
Nation of Ulysses,
Mantronix,
Hashim,
D'Angelo,
Kas Product,
Robert Hood,
The Invisible,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Tremeloes,
KRS-One,
Jerry's Kids,
the Sonics,
Deadbeat,
Johnny Osbourne,
Second Layer,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Selecter,
Michelle Simonal,
Wire,
David Bowie,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Rosa Yemen,
The Trojans,
Icehouse,
These Immortal Souls,
Scan 7,
Scientists,
The Smiths,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Funky Four + One,
ABBA,
Harry Pussy,
Skaos,
Chris & Cosey,
The Barracudas,
The Gories,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Davy DMX,
PIL,
Eric Copeland,
Dennis Brown,
Lower 48,
The Monochrome Set,
Patti Smith,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ponytail,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Maurizio,
Royal Trux,
The American Breed,
The Blues Magoos,
Eurythmics,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.