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 Vanuatu and from Hong Kong.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 808 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 Skriet to the disco 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 The Red Krayola. All the underground hits.
All Alice Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Model 500 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
Bill Wells,
Grey Daturas,
Intrusion,
The Smoke,
Dual Sessions,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Arthur Verocai,
Black Pus,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Loose Ends,
Interpol,
New Age Steppers,
Girls At Our Best!,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Suburban Knight,
Peter & Gordon,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Mummies,
Crispy Ambulance,
Nick Fraelich,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Dave Gahan,
AZ,
Aloha Tigers,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Crooked Eye,
Metal Thangz,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Black Bananas,
Unrelated Segments,
Zero Boys,
The Dead C,
E-Dancer,
Agent Orange,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Vogues,
The Cramps,
The Skatalites,
Pantaleimon,
Khruangbin,
The Sonics,
The Five Americans,
Magma,
Sandy B,
The Star Department,
Lebanon Hanover,
ABC,
Scientists,
Eve St. Jones,
Little Man,
Charles Mingus,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Matthew Bourne,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Second Layer,
The Techniques,
Stetsasonic,
the Association,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.