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 Jordan and from Accra.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Rod Modell to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Silicon Teens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-101 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultramagnetic MC's record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Zeros,
Maleditus Sound,
Sam Rivers,
Simply Red,
Drexciya,
Section 25,
Quantec,
Lower 48,
Public Enemy,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Five Americans,
Arcadia,
Gang Starr,
Henry Cow,
The Smiths,
Alice Coltrane,
The Detroit Cobras,
Brick,
the Swans,
Sight & Sound,
Smog,
Pylon,
Crime,
The Evens,
Eden Ahbez,
Johnny Osbourne,
Soul II Soul,
Neu!,
Joensuu 1685,
Sixth Finger,
Thompson Twins,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Modern Lovers,
The Human League,
Scott Walker,
Yusef Lateef,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bill Near,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Qualms,
Archie Shepp,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Country Teasers,
Terry Callier,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The American Breed,
Buzzcocks,
Aswad,
Steve Hackett,
Anakelly,
Index,
Andrew Hill,
Jeff Lynne,
Nick Fraelich,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Shuggie Otis,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Reagan Youth,
Nas,
B.T. Express,
the Soft Cell,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
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.