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 Bremen.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 808 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 Velvet Underground to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Tommy Roe. All the underground hits.
All Alison Limerick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fifty Foot Hose record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Shadows of Knight record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
Erasure,
The Gladiators,
Boz Scaggs,
Leonard Cohen,
Livin' Joy,
Kevin Saunderson,
Mission of Burma,
Fela Kuti,
Clear Light,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Ice-T,
Lou Reed,
Funky Four + One,
Y Pants,
Second Layer,
L. Decosne,
Todd Rundgren,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Kas Product,
Funkadelic,
Pole,
B.T. Express,
Average White Band,
Grauzone,
June of 44,
Arthur Verocai,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Residents,
Bill Near,
Lindisfarne,
Eden Ahbez,
The Litter,
The Standells,
Underground Resistance,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Cymande,
The Flesh Eaters,
Agent Orange,
Jeff Mills,
Skarface,
Fugazi,
Can,
The Fall,
Mad Mike,
Suicide,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Khruangbin,
These Immortal Souls,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
a-ha,
Barrington Levy,
the Normal,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Oblivians,
Juan Atkins,
Jawbox,
Max Romeo,
the Association,
Bill Wells,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.