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 Vietnam and from Toronto.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Pere Ubu to the funk 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 EPMD. All the underground hits.
All Scion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rekid record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Modern Lovers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flash Fearless,
Throbbing Gristle,
David Bowie,
Pet Shop Boys,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Marcia Griffiths,
John Coltrane,
Bootsy Collins,
Lalo Schifrin,
Duran Duran,
Chris Corsano,
Faust,
Scientists,
Suicide,
Technova,
The Modern Lovers,
The Shadows of Knight,
Freddie Wadling,
Tears for Fears,
Jacques Brel,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Fortunes,
Bluetip,
Scrapy,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Amon Düül,
The Seeds,
Mark Hollis,
Robert Wyatt,
Half Japanese,
Vainqueur,
The Sound,
The Martian,
Kas Product,
The Birthday Party,
Todd Rundgren,
Eric Dolphy,
Black Sheep,
Barry Ungar,
Liliput,
Lakeside,
Mad Mike,
Pantaleimon,
Bizarre Inc.,
Quantec,
Jandek,
Barrington Levy,
Bad Manners,
World's Most,
L. Decosne,
The United States of America,
Sixth Finger,
Pylon,
Blossom Toes,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Reagan Youth,
Procol Harum,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Little Man,
Camberwell Now,
Intrusion,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Slackers,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.