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 Woodstock.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Leaves to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Leonard Cohen. All the underground hits.
All Mad Mike tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott Heron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barrington Levy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Liliput,
UT,
Sparks,
Au Pairs,
Aaron Thompson,
Ronan,
Albert Ayler,
Marine Girls,
Bauhaus,
Livin' Joy,
Harpers Bizarre,
Spoonie Gee,
Howard Jones,
Make Up,
The Sonics,
Arcadia,
Susan Cadogan,
Groovy Waters,
The Remains,
Franke,
In Retrospect,
Jerry's Kids,
DJ Style,
Maurizio,
Skarface,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Monolake,
The Fortunes,
John Foxx,
Trumans Water,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Scott Walker,
Fatback Band,
Freddie Wadling,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Chrome,
The Red Krayola,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sugar Minott,
Reuben Wilson,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Lalo Schifrin,
Jandek,
Eric Copeland,
Saccharine Trust,
Thee Headcoats,
Rhythm & Sound,
Hasil Adkins,
Ronnie Foster,
The Selecter,
Magma,
The Music Machine,
Eli Mardock,
The Saints,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
the Human League,
Japan,
Fugazi,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.