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 South Sudan and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 synthesizer 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 Amon Düül to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Q and Not U. All the underground hits.
All the Bar-Kays tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eden Ahbez 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Golliwogs,
Tommy Roe,
The Zeros,
Ultra Naté,
Joe Finger,
Mission of Burma,
Davy DMX,
The Gun Club,
Junior Murvin,
DJ Sneak,
Pantytec,
Lightning Bolt,
Bang On A Can,
Ludus,
Brand Nubian,
Barry Ungar,
Cybotron,
Funkadelic,
The Last Poets,
Urselle,
The Names,
Rosa Yemen,
The Happenings,
Colin Newman,
Eric B and Rakim,
Johnny Clarke,
Young Marble Giants,
Rakim,
Niagra,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Cameo,
Pet Shop Boys,
Au Pairs,
Ultimate Spinach,
Kurtis Blow,
The Move,
Tim Buckley,
The Real Kids,
Buzzcocks,
Kenny Larkin,
Soft Machine,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Radiohead,
Glambeats Corp.,
Lyres,
Skaos,
Cheater Slicks,
CMW,
Altered Images,
Pere Ubu,
Sonic Youth,
The Shadows of Knight,
X-101,
Bobby Womack,
Andrew Hill,
Sun Ra,
PIL,
Moby Grape,
Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca.
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.