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 Sudan and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Milan.
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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Lakeside to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Detroit Cobras. All the underground hits.
All Echospace tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jawbox record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drive Like Jehu,
Hasil Adkins,
Crispy Ambulance,
MC5,
China Crisis,
The Slackers,
Scan 7,
The Detroit Cobras,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Ronnie Foster,
The Slits,
Harry Pussy,
The Dave Clark Five,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Skarface,
Grey Daturas,
R.M.O.,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Fire Engines,
Cecil Taylor,
The Offenders,
Zero Boys,
Pet Shop Boys,
L. Decosne,
Brick,
Bad Manners,
Tears for Fears,
Sarah Menescal,
Blossom Toes,
Dorothy Ashby,
Stockholm Monsters,
Black Pus,
Eli Mardock,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Laurel Aitken,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Althea and Donna,
Mary Jane Girls,
Goldenarms,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Prince Buster,
New Age Steppers,
Blake Baxter,
Simply Red,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Fall,
Zapp,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Seeds,
Country Teasers,
Main Source,
Peter & Gordon,
The Mummies,
ABC,
D'Angelo,
The Monochrome Set,
Mantronix,
Cluster,
Little Man,
Essential Logic,
Ponytail,
Bill Near,
Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force.
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.