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 Libya and from Taipei.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Accra.
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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Ash Ra Tempel to the funk 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 Black Bananas. All the underground hits.
All Country Teasers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Los Fastidios record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bob Dylan,
Blake Baxter,
Pagans,
Stereo Dub,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Girls At Our Best!,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Gap Band,
Vladislav Delay,
Eve St. Jones,
Shoche,
Joensuu 1685,
The Skatalites,
The Trojans,
Morten Harket,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Warren Ellis,
The Last Poets,
John Lydon,
The Cowsills,
Babytalk,
Television Personalities,
Max Romeo,
Marvin Gaye,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Country Teasers,
Malaria!,
David McCallum,
Radio Birdman,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
CMW,
Scott Walker,
The Evens,
Goldenarms,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Nick Fraelich,
The Cramps,
The Moleskins,
The Leaves,
Mary Jane Girls,
Ultra Naté,
Dave Gahan,
Crispy Ambulance,
Deadbeat,
Qualms,
Minnie Riperton,
Flipper,
F. McDonald,
the Swans,
The Blackbyrds,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Charles Mingus,
Roxette,
Monks,
Soft Machine,
Henry Cow,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Modern Lovers,
The Golliwogs,
Grauzone,
Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo.
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.