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 Congo and from Seoul.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 theremin 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 The Men They Couldn't Hang to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Alice Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Moebius tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Can record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Accadde A,
Black Sheep,
The Gun Club,
Deakin,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Lightning Bolt,
Ituana,
Massinfluence,
Royal Trux,
Altered Images,
Los Fastidios,
X-Ray Spex,
Barbara Tucker,
Leonard Cohen,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Hasil Adkins,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Joensuu 1685,
Lindisfarne,
Severed Heads,
X-101,
The Dirtbombs,
Sandy B,
Panda Bear,
DJ Style,
Kayak,
Joy Division,
The Moody Blues,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Harmonia,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Aloha Tigers,
World's Most,
Rekid,
Carl Craig,
Echospace,
Rod Modell,
F. McDonald,
The Residents,
Henry Cow,
Hot Snakes,
Minnie Riperton,
Eric B and Rakim,
Oneida,
The Dave Clark Five,
Idris Muhammad,
Ultra Naté,
Sugar Minott,
Soul II Soul,
The Cowsills,
Visage,
Graham Central Station,
Big Daddy Kane,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Reuben Wilson,
Mandrill,
Magazine, Magazine, Magazine, Magazine.
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.