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 Estonia and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 guitar 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 Funky Four + One to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Television. All the underground hits.
All Cameo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television Personalities record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boz Scaggs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lalo Schifrin,
Marcia Griffiths,
Derrick May,
Surgeon,
Jesper Dahlback,
Black Sheep,
Average White Band,
Interpol,
Crime,
Kurtis Blow,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Blancmange,
Rod Modell,
The Residents,
In Retrospect,
Skarface,
Ohio Players,
Rhythm & Sound,
Susan Cadogan,
The Five Americans,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Chris Corsano,
The Barracudas,
The Motions,
The Leaves,
PIL,
Panda Bear,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Tres Demented,
Fela Kuti,
The Modern Lovers,
Henry Cow,
Moebius,
Bobby Sherman,
UT,
Cecil Taylor,
Fad Gadget,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Talk Talk,
ABC,
Bizarre Inc.,
MC5,
Inner City,
The Move,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Swans,
Gang Green,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
John Holt,
The Vogues,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The American Breed,
Newcleus,
Barry Ungar,
Liliput,
Toni Rubio,
Alton Ellis,
Eric Copeland,
Leonard Cohen,
Smog,
Erasure,
The Monks,
Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel.
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.