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 Korea South and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 clarinet 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 Sam Rivers to the rock 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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All KRS-One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bronski Beat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rekid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Parry Music,
Sun Ra,
Minor Threat,
Hasil Adkins,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Alice Coltrane,
Scion,
Jandek,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Bill Wells,
Niagra,
Bobby Byrd,
The Slits,
Spoonie Gee,
Black Moon,
Todd Rundgren,
Maurizio,
Fear,
Section 25,
Vainqueur,
Wire,
Visage,
Ohio Players,
Average White Band,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Last Poets,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Beau Brummels,
The Selecter,
Kaleidoscope,
Flipper,
Traffic Nightmare,
Gang Gang Dance,
Yaz,
Soul Sonic Force,
Con Funk Shun,
Stiv Bators,
MC5,
Sister Nancy,
The Cure,
Joey Negro,
Banda Bassotti,
Cal Tjader,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Faust,
Agitation Free,
MDC,
Tom Boy,
The Count Five,
Bauhaus,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Fortunes,
Duran Duran,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Cybotron,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Eve St. Jones,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Vogues,
Robert Görl,
Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn.
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.