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 Kuwait and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Ponytail to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Josef K. All the underground hits.
All Michelle Simonal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & Metallica record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Flesh Eaters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scion,
Rhythm & Sound,
Fela Kuti,
Lindisfarne,
Agent Orange,
Harmonia,
Neu!,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Grauzone,
James White and The Blacks,
The Shadows of Knight,
Freddie Wadling,
A Certain Ratio,
Chrome,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Busters,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Dawn Penn,
Gang Green,
Rites of Spring,
Lyres,
Fad Gadget,
Kerri Chandler,
Don Cherry,
Cecil Taylor,
Shuggie Otis,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Essential Logic,
The Slits,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Skatalites,
The Golliwogs,
These Immortal Souls,
Swell Maps,
Minor Threat,
E-Dancer,
The Buckinghams,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lebanon Hanover,
Accadde A,
Gong,
Soul II Soul,
Slave,
Minny Pops,
Minutemen,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Peter & Gordon,
Curtis Mayfield,
Funkadelic,
The Moody Blues,
Funky Four + One,
Negative Approach,
Judy Mowatt,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Bobby Byrd,
Ponytail,
the Bar-Kays,
Arthur Verocai,
Bush Tetras,
Letta Mbulu,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
New York Dolls,
Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks.
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.