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 Malaysia and from Cairo.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 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 Eddi Front to the dance 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 Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. All the underground hits.
All New Age Steppers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gladiators 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Clear Light record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gichy Dan,
Groovy Waters,
The Human League,
The Evens,
Cecil Taylor,
KRS-One,
Au Pairs,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Moleskins,
Morten Harket,
Main Source,
The Monks,
Max Romeo,
Warsaw,
Howard Jones,
OOIOO,
Inner City,
The Wake,
Vladislav Delay,
Eurythmics,
The Zeros,
Lou Christie,
The Slits,
Barbara Tucker,
Zero Boys,
The Alarm Clocks,
Brand Nubian,
Los Fastidios,
The Electric Prunes,
Fad Gadget,
Jeff Lynne,
Clear Light,
Shoche,
The Red Krayola,
Circle Jerks,
One Last Wish,
Pere Ubu,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Deepchord,
MDC,
The Velvet Underground,
Theoretical Girls,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Mummies,
DJ Style,
Nico,
Harpers Bizarre,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Monochrome Set,
Glambeats Corp.,
Dual Sessions,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Barracudas,
Ludus,
Negative Approach,
Frankie Knuckles,
Fugazi,
Dawn Penn,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Pretty Things,
Gang Gang Dance, Gang Gang Dance, Gang Gang Dance, Gang Gang Dance.
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.