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 Mali and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 synthesizer 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 Larry & the Blue Notes to the electroclash 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam. All the underground hits.
All Pantaleimon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crime 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 rhodes and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sight & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anakelly,
The Birthday Party,
MDC,
Laurel Aitken,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Wally Richardson,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Deepchord,
The Victims,
Kerrie Biddell,
Minny Pops,
Faust,
Jacob Miller,
Prince Buster,
Talk Talk,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Thompson Twins,
Siglo XX,
Robert Wyatt,
Mr. Review,
Q and Not U,
Deakin,
Sam Rivers,
Kenny Larkin,
DJ Sneak,
The Pretty Things,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Saccharine Trust,
Magma,
Urselle,
Popol Vuh,
Drexciya,
Minnie Riperton,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lou Christie,
Severed Heads,
This Heat,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Jacques Brel,
The Fugs,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Jandek,
Janne Schatter,
Todd Terry,
The Gun Club,
Sun Ra,
T. Rex,
Althea and Donna,
Slick Rick,
Kurtis Blow,
Man Parrish,
Josef K,
Livin' Joy,
Joe Smooth,
Dawn Penn,
Delta 5,
Motorama,
The Knickerbockers,
Average White Band,
Aloha Tigers,
The Smoke,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.