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 Senegal 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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 808 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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Knickerbockers. All the underground hits.
All Oneida tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every David Bowie record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fort Wilson Riot record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
The Happenings,
Procol Harum,
Livin' Joy,
Wire,
Alton Ellis,
Massinfluence,
Tomorrow,
The Techniques,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Monks,
Toni Rubio,
Glambeats Corp.,
Deadbeat,
The Smiths,
Silicon Teens,
Junior Murvin,
Jimmy McGriff,
Fad Gadget,
Mr. Review,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Trojans,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ten City,
Nirvana,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Roger Hodgson,
Audionom,
Skriet,
The Victims,
Ultra Naté,
Bronski Beat,
Newcleus,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pere Ubu,
Johnny Osbourne,
Connie Case,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Gregory Isaacs,
Grauzone,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Amon Düül II,
Alphaville,
Mars,
Nation of Ulysses,
Q and Not U,
Sam Rivers,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Shoche,
The Barracudas,
The Doors,
Jacques Brel,
Letta Mbulu,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Cheater Slicks,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Neil Young,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson.
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.