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 Singapore 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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Copenhagen.
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 linndrum 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 Lucky Dragons to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks. All the underground hits.
All Neu! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joensuu 1685 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 '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 Arab on Radar record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bobby Womack,
Whodini,
Moby Grape,
Hasil Adkins,
Eli Mardock,
Zero Boys,
Boogie Down Productions,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Stockholm Monsters,
Minutemen,
The American Breed,
Sight & Sound,
Marmalade,
The Techniques,
Laurel Aitken,
Aloha Tigers,
Royal Trux,
The Modern Lovers,
Henry Cow,
The Velvet Underground,
The Gories,
B.T. Express,
Skarface,
Fatback Band,
Kaleidoscope,
Nick Fraelich,
The Residents,
Roxette,
Section 25,
Pantaleimon,
The Busters,
Shoche,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
David McCallum,
The Saints,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Sixth Finger,
Pagans,
Iggy Pop,
Scott Walker,
AZ,
Dennis Brown,
Arcadia,
Lightning Bolt,
The Invisible,
the Association,
Surgeon,
Glenn Branca,
Oneida,
Nation of Ulysses,
Sound Behaviour,
Chrome,
K-Klass,
Freddie Wadling,
Lou Reed,
Yusef Lateef,
Electric Prunes,
Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs.
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.