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 Burkina 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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 arpeggiator 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 Severed Heads to the electroclash 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 Jerry's Kids. All the underground hits.
All Dead Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Y Pants 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Selecter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dead Boys,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Pulsallama,
Crooked Eye,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Lalo Schifrin,
Althea and Donna,
Andrew Hill,
Animal Collective,
Black Bananas,
Lower 48,
Johnny Osbourne,
K-Klass,
Soft Machine,
Peter and Kerry,
Visage,
Marmalade,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Gang Gang Dance,
Blancmange,
Radio Birdman,
Joyce Sims,
the Germs,
Jeff Mills,
Wire,
Niagra,
Scrapy,
Deakin,
The Velvet Underground,
Marvin Gaye,
The Dead C,
Maurizio,
Hot Snakes,
Simply Red,
Intrusion,
Anthony Braxton,
Girls At Our Best!,
Lindisfarne,
Ash Ra Tempel,
One Last Wish,
The Human League,
The Monochrome Set,
Leonard Cohen,
Barrington Levy,
Suicide,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
a-ha,
Brick,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Tremeloes,
The Smoke,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Harmonia,
The Electric Prunes,
Parry Music,
X-102,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Fortunes,
Monolake,
B.T. Express,
Shuggie Otis,
Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth.
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.