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 Burundi and from Milan.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 marimba 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 Larry & the Blue Notes to the rap 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 Essential Logic. All the underground hits.
All Deadbeat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every UT 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer 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 oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Half Japanese,
Fela Kuti,
The Trojans,
The Martian,
The Saints,
Marmalade,
Freddie Wadling,
Icehouse,
Lindisfarne,
Mission of Burma,
Pierre Henry,
Wally Richardson,
Saccharine Trust,
The Residents,
Shoche,
Joyce Sims,
In Retrospect,
Delta 5,
MC5,
Arab on Radar,
Hot Snakes,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
F. McDonald,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Visage,
The Golliwogs,
Sam Rivers,
Neil Young,
Tommy Roe,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Pere Ubu,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Massinfluence,
Whodini,
Absolute Body Control,
Surgeon,
the Association,
Crispy Ambulance,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Stereo Dub,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Blake Baxter,
Television Personalities,
Kenny Larkin,
Wasted Youth,
Q65,
The Raincoats,
Junior Murvin,
Kerrie Biddell,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Lou Christie,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Masters at Work,
Schoolly D,
Blancmange,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Five Americans,
Colin Newman,
Mars,
Kango’s Stein Massive, Kango’s Stein Massive, Kango’s Stein Massive, Kango’s Stein Massive.
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.