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 Togo and from Bremen.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 güiro 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 Second Layer to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 X-102. All the underground hits.
All The Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quantec record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Coltrane 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 Royal Family And The Poor,
Henry Cow,
Gerry Rafferty,
Pantytec,
Amon Düül,
Erykah Badu,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Absolute Body Control,
K-Klass,
48th St. Collective,
Wasted Youth,
Stereo Dub,
The Fall,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Knickerbockers,
Don Cherry,
Jerry Gold Smith,
X-102,
Pagans,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Lebanon Hanover,
Moss Icon,
the Normal,
Parry Music,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
John Foxx,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Motions,
The Associates,
a-ha,
The Neon Judgement,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Anakelly,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Frankie Knuckles,
Banda Bassotti,
Ituana,
Ludus,
Judy Mowatt,
Bob Dylan,
Scientists,
Roxy Music,
Boredoms,
Little Man,
John Cale,
Eurythmics,
The Mummies,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
the Human League,
La Düsseldorf,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Lalo Schifrin,
Q65,
Marmalade,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Scratch Acid,
The Happenings,
Crooked Eye,
Ten City,
Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum.
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.