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 Netherlands and from Seoul.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Lebanon Hanover to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Joyce Sims. All the underground hits.
All R.M.O. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Green 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Faust,
The Barracudas,
Anthony Braxton,
Qualms,
Ultra Naté,
Warren Ellis,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Dead Boys,
MC5,
Albert Ayler,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Masters at Work,
Terry Callier,
Make Up,
Joe Finger,
Kenny Larkin,
Eric Copeland,
Ash Ra Tempel,
F. McDonald,
The Gun Club,
Surgeon,
The Stooges,
Joensuu 1685,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Fuzztones,
Dual Sessions,
Throbbing Gristle,
Cheater Slicks,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Godley & Creme,
Simply Red,
Erykah Badu,
Fat Boys,
Marshall Jefferson,
Eve St. Jones,
Circle Jerks,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Beau Brummels,
Gabor Szabo,
Average White Band,
The Searchers,
Pierre Henry,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Robert Wyatt,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Johnny Osbourne,
Deepchord,
ABC,
Davy DMX,
Los Fastidios,
Electric Prunes,
Camberwell Now,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
John Lydon,
Ralphi Rosario,
Pussy Galore,
Magazine,
K-Klass,
Ronnie Foster,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.