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 Italy and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Scan 7 to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gang of Four. All the underground hits.
All Camberwell Now tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eve St. Jones 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barclay James Harvest,
Rapeman,
Nas,
Minutemen,
X-Ray Spex,
The Index,
Deadbeat,
Can,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Pop Group,
The Gun Club,
The Move,
UT,
The Fortunes,
The Slits,
Q65,
The Walker Brothers,
Black Bananas,
Brand Nubian,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Pharoah Sanders,
Desert Stars,
Trumans Water,
Theoretical Girls,
David Axelrod,
Barry Ungar,
Hot Snakes,
AZ,
Blake Baxter,
Lungfish,
Camouflage,
Scientists,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Index,
The Stooges,
DJ Sneak,
Gabor Szabo,
Rites of Spring,
Minnie Riperton,
Joe Finger,
Crash Course in Science,
Skarface,
Lou Reed,
Heaven 17,
Fear,
Pagans,
The Misunderstood,
The Count Five,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Mad Mike,
The Detroit Cobras,
Mandrill,
The Barracudas,
The Invisible,
48th St. Collective,
The Modern Lovers,
Jerry's Kids,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Letta Mbulu,
Sam Rivers,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.