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 Azerbaijan and from Accra.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Colin Newman to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Robert Görl. All the underground hits.
All Bobbi Humphrey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Martian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alphaville,
Animal Collective,
Minutemen,
Jawbox,
The Grass Roots,
Magazine,
Thompson Twins,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Moleskins,
Johnny Osbourne,
Zapp,
Deepchord,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Jeru the Damaja,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bluetip,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Neu!,
The Walker Brothers,
Judy Mowatt,
Nick Fraelich,
Lebanon Hanover,
Ultimate Spinach,
Pylon,
Marcia Griffiths,
New Age Steppers,
Mission of Burma,
Radiohead,
The Raincoats,
Sixth Finger,
Oblivians,
Bill Near,
Drexciya,
Smog,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Los Fastidios,
Section 25,
The Angels of Light,
Suburban Knight,
D'Angelo,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Erasure,
Nik Kershaw,
Fluxion,
Ponytail,
Sällskapet,
cv313,
Gichy Dan,
Scan 7,
Nico,
Kerri Chandler,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Davy DMX,
Con Funk Shun,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Don Cherry,
Clear Light,
Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan.
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.