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 Cameroon and from Woodstock.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 theremin 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 UT to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Fat Boys. All the underground hits.
All Chris Corsano tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MDC 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultramagnetic MC's record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lungfish,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Andrew Hill,
Erykah Badu,
Tim Buckley,
Robert Wyatt,
Stiv Bators,
Ohio Players,
Duran Duran,
The Durutti Column,
Johnny Clarke,
Altered Images,
Scott Walker,
Royal Trux,
John Holt,
Von Mondo,
B.T. Express,
Gang Starr,
The Dave Clark Five,
Dawn Penn,
Fluxion,
Leonard Cohen,
Chris Corsano,
Rufus Thomas,
James White and The Blacks,
Matthew Bourne,
The Searchers,
Yazoo,
Soft Cell,
Minny Pops,
Urselle,
Fugazi,
Quadrant,
Skaos,
FM Einheit,
Ken Boothe,
Quando Quango,
Rapeman,
The Standells,
Blake Baxter,
Charles Mingus,
Q65,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Donny Hathaway,
Depeche Mode,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Move,
The Young Rascals,
Panda Bear,
Public Enemy,
The Misunderstood,
Bootsy Collins,
Sun City Girls,
Make Up,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Robert Görl,
Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth.
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.