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 Bulgaria and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 rhodes 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 The Mummies to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Symarip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fela Kuti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Sonics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pop Group,
Circle Jerks,
Motorama,
Rotary Connection,
Bill Near,
Grauzone,
Saccharine Trust,
Lungfish,
Mantronix,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Monks,
Nick Fraelich,
Monks,
Bobby Sherman,
The Fugs,
Gang Green,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Royal Trux,
Pere Ubu,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Susan Cadogan,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Q and Not U,
A Certain Ratio,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gang Gang Dance,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Sound,
Loose Ends,
Minnie Riperton,
The Moleskins,
The Happenings,
The Durutti Column,
Qualms,
Stereo Dub,
Brothers Johnson,
Rites of Spring,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Panda Bear,
Godley & Creme,
The Gun Club,
Brick,
Ultimate Spinach,
Bill Wells,
Easy Going,
In Retrospect,
The Buckinghams,
Blossom Toes,
Scrapy,
Ossler,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Fortunes,
Adolescents,
the Normal,
Mad Mike,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Liliput,
Toni Rubio,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Anthony Braxton,
The Human League,
Warren Ellis,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.