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 Afghanistan and from Mexico City.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Mexico City.
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 theremin 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 Soft Cell to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Barry Ungar. All the underground hits.
All Eden Ahbez tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Los Fastidios record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Hutcherson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tubeway Army,
Blancmange,
Dual Sessions,
Erasure,
The Monochrome Set,
Sound Behaviour,
Black Flag,
Erykah Badu,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Cecil Taylor,
Crispy Ambulance,
Faust,
Swell Maps,
Boredoms,
Bobby Sherman,
B.T. Express,
Brass Construction,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Susan Cadogan,
Bootsy Collins,
Josef K,
Marcia Griffiths,
the Germs,
Wolf Eyes,
The Star Department,
Cymande,
Gil Scott Heron,
Motorama,
Scan 7,
48th St. Collective,
Terry Callier,
Marc Almond,
Rapeman,
Soul II Soul,
Section 25,
Icehouse,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Piero Umiliani,
Glenn Branca,
John Foxx,
Q and Not U,
Brothers Johnson,
Moss Icon,
Althea and Donna,
Lower 48,
Magazine,
Barclay James Harvest,
Gang Gang Dance,
Patti Smith,
Delon & Dalcan,
Quadrant,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Talk Talk,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sixth Finger,
Alison Limerick,
The Litter,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Searchers,
Neil Young,
David Axelrod,
The Fortunes,
Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy.
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.