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 Ecuador and from London.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Vainqueur to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Morten Harket. All the underground hits.
All Oneida tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lonnie Liston Smith 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scientists record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Christie,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Slits,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Fire Engines,
Gong,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
New York Dolls,
Bill Near,
Laurel Aitken,
The Gories,
The Shadows of Knight,
48th St. Collective,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Yaz,
Ultravox,
Shuggie Otis,
Juan Atkins,
Shoche,
Leonard Cohen,
The Seeds,
the Slits,
The Blackbyrds,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Lungfish,
Qualms,
The Gap Band,
The Saints,
The Count Five,
Barclay James Harvest,
Marine Girls,
Delta 5,
The Victims,
Bobby Byrd,
Barbara Tucker,
Section 25,
The Tremeloes,
The Monochrome Set,
MC5,
Talk Talk,
Youth Brigade,
Young Marble Giants,
Smog,
Brand Nubian,
the Sonics,
John Cale,
Brothers Johnson,
Magma,
Graham Central Station,
Joensuu 1685,
a-ha,
the Normal,
Jeru the Damaja,
Davy DMX,
Accadde A,
Lee Hazlewood,
Lalann,
Ultra Naté,
Reagan Youth,
The Black Dice,
The Young Rascals,
Scion,
Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound.
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.