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 Lebanon and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Manchester.
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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Joe Finger to the rock 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 Ossler. All the underground hits.
All Scion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Dolphy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terror Squad Feat. Camron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Last Poets,
The Real Kids,
Lightning Bolt,
Chris Corsano,
Arthur Verocai,
Rufus Thomas,
Deadbeat,
In Retrospect,
The Barracudas,
Sarah Menescal,
Eurythmics,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Dirtbombs,
Nas,
The Invisible,
Adolescents,
The Index,
Ornette Coleman,
Roxy Music,
The Techniques,
T.S.O.L.,
OOIOO,
Radio Birdman,
Loose Ends,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
These Immortal Souls,
Soft Cell,
Harpers Bizarre,
Von Mondo,
China Crisis,
Grauzone,
Yaz,
Motorama,
Bill Wells,
The Happenings,
The Stooges,
the Germs,
Blossom Toes,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Al Stewart,
Steve Hackett,
R.M.O.,
Ohio Players,
The Grass Roots,
Sun City Girls,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Chris & Cosey,
Inner City,
Niagra,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Velvet Underground,
Negative Approach,
Bootsy Collins,
Minor Threat,
Minnie Riperton,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Blackbyrds,
Technova,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Godley & Creme,
Swans,
Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station.
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.