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 Equatorial Guinea and from Paris.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Blossom Toes to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Bizarre Inc.. All the underground hits.
All Eric Dolphy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shoche record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bauhaus,
Cal Tjader,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
U.S. Maple,
Tomorrow,
John Holt,
Thee Headcoats,
Hasil Adkins,
Pere Ubu,
Altered Images,
Fugazi,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Zero Boys,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Shadows of Knight,
Lebanon Hanover,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Grey Daturas,
Juan Atkins,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Human League,
Half Japanese,
Prince Buster,
the Germs,
JFA,
Pole,
Unrelated Segments,
Wally Richardson,
Lee Hazlewood,
Flamin' Groovies,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bill Wells,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Soulsonic Force,
Yusef Lateef,
Byron Stingily,
Echospace,
Arthur Verocai,
The Buckinghams,
The Fall,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Section 25,
Todd Rundgren,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Warren Ellis,
Bobby Sherman,
F. McDonald,
Stiv Bators,
Yellowson,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Barracudas,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Golliwogs,
Urselle,
Crash Course in Science,
Derrick May,
The Mojo Men,
Magma,
Dark Day,
Bill Near,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Spandau Ballet,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.