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 Fiji and from Columbus.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Tehran.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Simply Red 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 The Walker Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Pagans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boogie Down Productions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flipper record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Toasters,
Cameo,
Television Personalities,
Ludus,
EPMD,
Severed Heads,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Jeff Lynne,
Intrusion,
L. Decosne,
Peter and Kerry,
Bizarre Inc.,
Technova,
Joe Smooth,
The Happenings,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Yusef Lateef,
Public Image Ltd.,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
New Age Steppers,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Groovy Waters,
Livin' Joy,
Funky Four + One,
Pierre Henry,
Al Stewart,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Grass Roots,
Kevin Saunderson,
Young Marble Giants,
Cybotron,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Fat Boys,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The United States of America,
Josef K,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Max Romeo,
Essential Logic,
Skarface,
Crispy Ambulance,
Roxette,
Glenn Branca,
Bobby Womack,
Ponytail,
Joyce Sims,
Pole,
Second Layer,
Soul II Soul,
The Cramps,
Masters at Work,
Curtis Mayfield,
Bobby Byrd,
ABBA,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kool Moe Dee,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Durutti Column,
Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy.
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.