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 Belarus and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Gary Puckett & The Union Gap to the crunk 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 Nirvana. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sister Nancy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Normal,
China Crisis,
The Stooges,
Erasure,
Michelle Simonal,
Dennis Brown,
Ponytail,
Guru Guru,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Rod Modell,
Pylon,
The Divine Comedy,
Black Sheep,
The Star Department,
The United States of America,
Hoover,
The Fortunes,
Marshall Jefferson,
Buzzcocks,
Black Bananas,
Throbbing Gristle,
Steve Hackett,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Smiths,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ralphi Rosario,
Judy Mowatt,
Suburban Knight,
X-102,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Animal Collective,
David Bowie,
Index,
The Leaves,
E-Dancer,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Audionom,
Ossler,
the Slits,
Graham Central Station,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Bobby Byrd,
Eve St. Jones,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ornette Coleman,
Pere Ubu,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Skatalites,
8 Eyed Spy,
Das Ding,
The Doobie Brothers,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
David Axelrod,
the Sonics,
Banda Bassotti,
Hashim,
Gichy Dan,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Wire,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.