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 Solomon Islands and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Colin Newman to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Amazonics. All the underground hits.
All Pantytec tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every World's Most 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Durutti Column,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
FM Einheit,
the Slits,
Barrington Levy,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Techniques,
World's Most,
Young Marble Giants,
Gabor Szabo,
The Moleskins,
Joyce Sims,
Magazine,
Scratch Acid,
Moby Grape,
Skarface,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Hasil Adkins,
The Angels of Light,
Quadrant,
Joy Division,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Cluster,
New Age Steppers,
The Dirtbombs,
Nation of Ulysses,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Idris Muhammad,
The Gladiators,
Von Mondo,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Panda Bear,
The Fall,
Skriet,
Bobby Sherman,
Ultra Naté,
Frankie Knuckles,
DJ Style,
Goldenarms,
Patti Smith,
Jeff Mills,
Basic Channel,
Lungfish,
The Blues Magoos,
The Star Department,
Ohio Players,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Knickerbockers,
The Raincoats,
Thompson Twins,
The Cosmic Jokers,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Camouflage,
Ornette Coleman,
Pole,
Dual Sessions,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Alarm Clocks,
Yaz,
The Skatalites,
Urselle, Urselle, Urselle, Urselle.
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.