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 Libya and from Tehran.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 clarinet 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 Joe Smooth to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Rufus Thomas. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wally Richardson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Connie Case,
The New Christs,
Siglo XX,
Glambeats Corp.,
Traffic Nightmare,
Negative Approach,
Pagans,
Sun City Girls,
Michelle Simonal,
Grey Daturas,
Tim Buckley,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
the Germs,
Blossom Toes,
Circle Jerks,
The Star Department,
Bush Tetras,
Talk Talk,
New Age Steppers,
Porter Ricks,
Barry Ungar,
Boz Scaggs,
Bill Near,
Ten City,
JFA,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bill Wells,
Andrew Hill,
Johnny Clarke,
Motorama,
John Lydon,
Sugar Minott,
Ohio Players,
Parry Music,
Section 25,
The Walker Brothers,
The Dirtbombs,
Eurythmics,
Eric B and Rakim,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Wolf Eyes,
Au Pairs,
Lucky Dragons,
Liliput,
The Young Rascals,
Kas Product,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Robert Görl,
The Techniques,
Piero Umiliani,
Banda Bassotti,
Oneida,
The Cowsills,
Lyres,
Deadbeat,
Pantytec,
The Misunderstood,
The Flesh Eaters,
Freddie Wadling,
Soul II Soul,
Electric Prunes,
The Detroit Cobras, The Detroit Cobras, The Detroit Cobras, The Detroit Cobras.
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.