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 Gambia and from Taipei.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Gian Franco Pienzio to the grunge 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 Bad Manners. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & Metallica tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alice Coltrane record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Loose Ends record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Selecter,
Excepter,
Niagra,
Marshall Jefferson,
Boredoms,
Soft Cell,
OOIOO,
Barrington Levy,
Babytalk,
the Sonics,
Mandrill,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Fuzztones,
Moby Grape,
The Happenings,
Archie Shepp,
Au Pairs,
Intrusion,
Camberwell Now,
Isaac Hayes,
Con Funk Shun,
Swans,
Youth Brigade,
Bill Wells,
Buzzcocks,
The Electric Prunes,
Section 25,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Scientists,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Little Man,
The Doobie Brothers,
Hashim,
Drive Like Jehu,
Qualms,
The Young Rascals,
World's Most,
Crooked Eye,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Ornette Coleman,
Harpers Bizarre,
Tim Buckley,
Yazoo,
Frankie Knuckles,
Nick Fraelich,
The Remains,
Royal Trux,
Severed Heads,
Ossler,
48th St. Collective,
Kaleidoscope,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pierre Henry,
Harmonia,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Public Enemy,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.