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 Ukraine and from Manchester.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Jesper Dahlback. All the underground hits.
All Sonic Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun City Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
the Swans,
Lindisfarne,
Matthew Halsall,
Rakim,
Charles Mingus,
The New Christs,
Angry Samoans,
JFA,
Steve Hackett,
John Foxx,
Darondo,
Silicon Teens,
Skriet,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Lightning Bolt,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Soul II Soul,
Youth Brigade,
Boredoms,
Althea and Donna,
The Litter,
Marvin Gaye,
Gang of Four,
La Düsseldorf,
Icehouse,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Fuzztones,
Derrick Morgan,
Fat Boys,
Boz Scaggs,
Susan Cadogan,
Bad Manners,
A Certain Ratio,
The Standells,
Moby Grape,
Joy Division,
Colin Newman,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Move,
Ice-T,
Mandrill,
Scott Walker,
Al Stewart,
Amon Düül II,
The Last Poets,
Juan Atkins,
Jacob Miller,
Subhumans,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Music Machine,
The Sound,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bronski Beat,
Electric Prunes,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Black Flag,
Reagan Youth,
Nation of Ulysses,
Yellowson,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.