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 Niger and from Woodstock.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the punk 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 Morten Harket. All the underground hits.
All Gong tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Grass Roots record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet 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 Modern Lovers,
Susan Cadogan,
Moss Icon,
Tres Demented,
The Searchers,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Tubeway Army,
Flash Fearless,
The United States of America,
Soulsonic Force,
Be Bop Deluxe,
AZ,
Infiniti,
Lalann,
Rites of Spring,
Sällskapet,
Joe Finger,
Clear Light,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Echospace,
Skarface,
B.T. Express,
Throbbing Gristle,
Amon Düül,
Marmalade,
Ossler,
Eric Copeland,
Von Mondo,
Janne Schatter,
Ornette Coleman,
Easy Going,
Patti Smith,
Bauhaus,
Popol Vuh,
Severed Heads,
Hardrive,
The Monochrome Set,
Deepchord,
Mission of Burma,
The Flesh Eaters,
Fat Boys,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gang Green,
Ludus,
The Invisible,
Crispy Ambulance,
Jeru the Damaja,
Laurel Aitken,
Wally Richardson,
Ultra Naté,
Ronnie Foster,
Piero Umiliani,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Robert Hood,
The Mummies,
Erykah Badu,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
MC5,
The Associates,
The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola.
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.