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 Dominica and from Mumbai.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 oboe 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 Robert Hood to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The Fall. All the underground hits.
All Harmonia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Leaves record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Alarm Clocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dead C,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Grey Daturas,
Johnny Osbourne,
Jandek,
The Cure,
Marvin Gaye,
The Tremeloes,
Basic Channel,
Dennis Brown,
Sun Ra,
Andrew Hill,
L. Decosne,
Main Source,
Dark Day,
Symarip,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Tres Demented,
Prince Buster,
Jerry's Kids,
the Germs,
Visage,
Isaac Hayes,
Dual Sessions,
Curtis Mayfield,
Blake Baxter,
The Angels of Light,
Zero Boys,
Flash Fearless,
Schoolly D,
The Zeros,
Procol Harum,
Eurythmics,
The Toasters,
Bobby Byrd,
Fluxion,
Second Layer,
The Gun Club,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lyres,
Lightning Bolt,
Hoover,
Audionom,
China Crisis,
Ralphi Rosario,
Mission of Burma,
Nation of Ulysses,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Average White Band,
Bad Manners,
Peter and Kerry,
The Seeds,
Blancmange,
the Normal,
Babytalk,
Iggy Pop,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Niagra,
Kevin Saunderson,
AZ,
Rapeman,
Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks.
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.