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 Cambodia and from Glasgow.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Goldenarms to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Mars. All the underground hits.
All Interpol tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neu! record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Victims,
Henry Cow,
the Bar-Kays,
Tropical Tobacco,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Neu!,
Derrick May,
Eric Dolphy,
Freddie Wadling,
L. Decosne,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Josef K,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Music Machine,
The Young Rascals,
Kevin Saunderson,
Ituana,
Rod Modell,
Vainqueur,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Girls At Our Best!,
Das Ding,
Fad Gadget,
Public Image Ltd.,
Clear Light,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Index,
Glenn Branca,
Simply Red,
the Soft Cell,
Yusef Lateef,
Quando Quango,
The Gap Band,
Brass Construction,
Bill Wells,
Liliput,
Bob Dylan,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Gil Scott Heron,
Marvin Gaye,
DJ Style,
Blossom Toes,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ken Boothe,
Suburban Knight,
Matthew Halsall,
Ralphi Rosario,
Intrusion,
Bizarre Inc.,
Pussy Galore,
Soft Machine,
Tres Demented,
James Chance & The Contortions,
China Crisis,
Colin Newman,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
8 Eyed Spy,
Fifty Foot Hose,
New York Dolls,
The Barracudas,
Desert Stars,
Metal Thangz,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.