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 Suriname and from Hong Kong.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Paris.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Fugazi to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Jawbox. All the underground hits.
All Drexciya tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echospace record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Zero Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Organ,
David Bowie,
The Toasters,
Kurtis Blow,
Kaleidoscope,
Pole,
R.M.O.,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Ossler,
Alison Limerick,
Lyres,
Fatback Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Schoolly D,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Minnie Riperton,
Joe Smooth,
Tomorrow,
Prince Buster,
cv313,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Lucky Dragons,
Sugar Minott,
The J.B.'s,
Gerry Rafferty,
Pagans,
The Motions,
Mars,
Amon Düül,
John Cale,
Dead Boys,
Nas,
Magma,
Harpers Bizarre,
Skarface,
Ken Boothe,
Gregory Isaacs,
Joy Division,
8 Eyed Spy,
Morten Harket,
Stiv Bators,
the Slits,
Soul II Soul,
The Monks,
The Star Department,
Adolescents,
Kas Product,
Young Marble Giants,
Bob Dylan,
Neu!,
The Fuzztones,
Mantronix,
Sun Ra,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Archie Shepp,
PIL,
Boz Scaggs,
Hot Snakes,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Stockholm Monsters, Stockholm Monsters, Stockholm Monsters, Stockholm Monsters.
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.