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 Bhutan and from Beijing.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Excepter to the techno 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 Negative Approach. All the underground hits.
All 10cc tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moebius 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Arab on Radar record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Standells,
Eddi Front,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Residents,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Pantytec,
Brass Construction,
JFA,
The Evens,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Shoche,
The Alarm Clocks,
Rotary Connection,
Outsiders,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Raincoats,
Thompson Twins,
Infiniti,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Tropical Tobacco,
Spoonie Gee,
Supertramp,
Zapp,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Marcia Griffiths,
Au Pairs,
Bluetip,
Marine Girls,
Shuggie Otis,
Bob Dylan,
Urselle,
Nils Olav,
The Move,
Swell Maps,
Loose Ends,
The Saints,
Michelle Simonal,
The Zeros,
Moebius,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Cramps,
Colin Newman,
Sun City Girls,
Animal Collective,
Blancmange,
Aswad,
Sugar Minott,
Lalann,
Amon Düül II,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Chrome,
Kool Moe Dee,
Quantec,
The Dead C,
OOIOO,
Hashim,
The Grass Roots,
Unrelated Segments,
H. Thieme,
Nick Fraelich,
Eric Dolphy,
The Mummies,
B.T. Express,
Kayak, Kayak, Kayak, Kayak.
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.