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 Philippines and from Stockholm.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 organ 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 KRS-One to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Nation of Ulysses tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Finger 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hot Snakes,
A Certain Ratio,
Masters at Work,
the Germs,
Dark Day,
Hoover,
Mandrill,
Godley & Creme,
Rites of Spring,
The Gap Band,
Suicide,
One Last Wish,
Sex Pistols,
Amon Düül,
La Düsseldorf,
Dawn Penn,
cv313,
Blancmange,
Lee Hazlewood,
DNA,
Joensuu 1685,
Tommy Roe,
Flash Fearless,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Gang of Four,
Funkadelic,
Cecil Taylor,
Shuggie Otis,
The New Christs,
Aswad,
Derrick Morgan,
Pere Ubu,
Anthony Braxton,
Kool Moe Dee,
Royal Trux,
Sound Behaviour,
Bluetip,
Gang Gang Dance,
the Swans,
ABBA,
the Bar-Kays,
Alison Limerick,
Tomorrow,
Boogie Down Productions,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Oneida,
Sonic Youth,
Pantaleimon,
Sugar Minott,
The Fall,
Crooked Eye,
Neu!,
DJ Style,
The Grass Roots,
Slave,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Monks,
Moebius,
Visage,
Big Daddy Kane,
Ten City,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.