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 Fiji and from Accra.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Scan 7 to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Q65 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a UT record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Motions,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Scion,
Intrusion,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Johnny Osbourne,
Harpers Bizarre,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Zeros,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Mojo Men,
Eve St. Jones,
Banda Bassotti,
Buzzcocks,
Fluxion,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Talk Talk,
Soul Sonic Force,
Rekid,
Dual Sessions,
Michelle Simonal,
Black Pus,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bootsy Collins,
Funkadelic,
Kaleidoscope,
Minor Threat,
Japan,
Marine Girls,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Althea and Donna,
F. McDonald,
Groovy Waters,
Piero Umiliani,
Yaz,
Dorothy Ashby,
The New Christs,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Raincoats,
Sexual Harrassment,
Porter Ricks,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Juan Atkins,
Mars,
Leonard Cohen,
Country Teasers,
Fad Gadget,
Max Romeo,
Depeche Mode,
Alison Limerick,
The Gladiators,
Warsaw,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Ultimate Spinach,
Blake Baxter,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Searchers,
Alton Ellis,
Flash Fearless,
Eden Ahbez,
Graham Central Station,
Robert Wyatt,
Infiniti, Infiniti, Infiniti, Infiniti.
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.