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 Somalia and from Sao Paulo.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Amon Düül to the punk 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 Stiv Bators. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Magazine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minutemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Leonard Cohen,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Eric Copeland,
Toni Rubio,
The Electric Prunes,
The Buckinghams,
Arthur Verocai,
Scratch Acid,
Ponytail,
DNA,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bill Wells,
Sexual Harrassment,
KRS-One,
Chris Corsano,
The Beau Brummels,
Goldenarms,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Minny Pops,
Hot Snakes,
Sarah Menescal,
Judy Mowatt,
The Shadows of Knight,
Glambeats Corp.,
Suburban Knight,
Ultravox,
Sandy B,
Youth Brigade,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
B.T. Express,
Idris Muhammad,
Vladislav Delay,
Drive Like Jehu,
David Bowie,
The Blues Magoos,
Livin' Joy,
Bronski Beat,
Radiopuhelimet,
Curtis Mayfield,
Television Personalities,
Reagan Youth,
48th St. Collective,
Davy DMX,
Hasil Adkins,
Gang Gang Dance,
Soft Machine,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Brothers Johnson,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Brick,
L. Decosne,
Siglo XX,
Bluetip,
Eddi Front,
Pierre Henry,
Scion,
Pagans,
Junior Murvin,
Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones.
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.