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 Ethiopia and from Spokane.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Quando Quango to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Flipper. All the underground hits.
All Dead Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Traffic Nightmare record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Soul II Soul,
The Golliwogs,
Cymande,
The Saints,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Monks,
Nation of Ulysses,
Fugazi,
Alton Ellis,
Black Flag,
Angry Samoans,
Howard Jones,
China Crisis,
Radio Birdman,
the Fania All-Stars,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Grauzone,
Vainqueur,
Dark Day,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Minnie Riperton,
Piero Umiliani,
David Axelrod,
Patti Smith,
Rites of Spring,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Gichy Dan,
The Dead C,
The Real Kids,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
David McCallum,
Duran Duran,
ABC,
Wings,
Scion,
Inner City,
Television,
Kaleidoscope,
Michelle Simonal,
Moby Grape,
Main Source,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Eric Dolphy,
Joey Negro,
Pere Ubu,
Blake Baxter,
The Tremeloes,
Stereo Dub,
The Young Rascals,
Joe Smooth,
Cluster,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Nas,
Pantaleimon,
a-ha,
Throbbing Gristle,
Magazine,
Cameo,
Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock.
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.