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 Serbia and from Manchester.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 arpeggiator 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 Scion to the grunge 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 Ronan. All the underground hits.
All cv313 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fire Engines record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Toni Rubio,
The Happenings,
Barbara Tucker,
Mo-Dettes,
Black Sheep,
Davy DMX,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Hot Snakes,
Desert Stars,
Fatback Band,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Jawbox,
Youth Brigade,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Amon Düül II,
Amon Düül,
Tomorrow,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
X-101,
Pet Shop Boys,
Johnny Osbourne,
Newcleus,
The Barracudas,
The Dirtbombs,
David Bowie,
Monolake,
Niagra,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Japan,
Soft Cell,
The Electric Prunes,
the Bar-Kays,
X-Ray Spex,
The Red Krayola,
Echospace,
Audionom,
Ultra Naté,
Reagan Youth,
The New Christs,
Nils Olav,
Eden Ahbez,
Joey Negro,
Curtis Mayfield,
Michelle Simonal,
Eric Dolphy,
the Slits,
The Gun Club,
Roy Ayers,
Skriet,
Minny Pops,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Gong,
Suicide,
Nico,
Accadde A,
Oneida,
Colin Newman,
Ponytail, Ponytail, Ponytail, Ponytail.
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.