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 Kenya and from Halifax.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Manila.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the güiro 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 Minutemen to the jazz 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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All Boredoms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Newcleus 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?
Mary Jane Girls,
Goldenarms,
Easy Going,
The Cowsills,
The Misunderstood,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Man Parrish,
Suicide,
Oblivians,
Unrelated Segments,
World's Most,
Cheater Slicks,
Yaz,
Wings,
Outsiders,
The Blues Magoos,
New York Dolls,
Lee Hazlewood,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Soulsonic Force,
The Standells,
The Moody Blues,
Scratch Acid,
Scientists,
Kas Product,
Thompson Twins,
Aural Exciters,
Robert Hood,
The Gladiators,
James White and The Blacks,
The Litter,
Sister Nancy,
Black Flag,
Drexciya,
Boredoms,
Electric Prunes,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Hasil Adkins,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Harpers Bizarre,
LL Cool J,
The Young Rascals,
Newcleus,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Rakim,
Malaria!,
ABC,
Lalann,
Charles Mingus,
the Slits,
Excepter,
Lalo Schifrin,
Jawbox,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Doors,
Moebius,
KRS-One,
Severed Heads,
Aaron Thompson,
Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru.
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.