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 Sao Paulo.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Joensuu 1685 to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Mighty Diamonds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Saints 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a China Crisis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The American Breed,
Jerry's Kids,
Subhumans,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lindisfarne,
The Martian,
The Raincoats,
Nation of Ulysses,
Arab on Radar,
Hardrive,
Easy Going,
Crispian St. Peters,
Minor Threat,
The Remains,
A Flock of Seagulls,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Erykah Badu,
Newcleus,
The Dead C,
Bob Dylan,
Chris Corsano,
Rites of Spring,
Mad Mike,
Liliput,
The Barracudas,
The Gladiators,
Parry Music,
DJ Style,
Swell Maps,
Siglo XX,
Graham Central Station,
Michelle Simonal,
The Fall,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Ronnie Foster,
Scientists,
Aural Exciters,
Dark Day,
Radiopuhelimet,
Rosa Yemen,
Bang On A Can,
Ten City,
Loose Ends,
Popol Vuh,
Robert Wyatt,
In Retrospect,
Ossler,
The Flesh Eaters,
Cybotron,
Dennis Brown,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Durutti Column,
Q and Not U,
MC5,
Bush Tetras,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Technova,
Roger Hodgson,
Cheater Slicks,
Todd Rundgren,
Animal Collective,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Flash Fearless,
Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter.
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.