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 Eritrea and from Delhi.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 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 The Wake to the rap 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 Minutemen. All the underground hits.
All Peter and Kerry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Motions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scientists,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ultimate Spinach,
Smog,
Nico,
Babytalk,
Television Personalities,
Scan 7,
Buzzcocks,
Tears for Fears,
Crispy Ambulance,
Nick Fraelich,
Ituana,
Index,
The Tremeloes,
Archie Shepp,
Supertramp,
The Associates,
The Durutti Column,
Todd Rundgren,
cv313,
James White and The Blacks,
Chris & Cosey,
La Düsseldorf,
48th St. Collective,
Pharoah Sanders,
Fad Gadget,
The United States of America,
Newcleus,
The Black Dice,
Animal Collective,
Malaria!,
The Red Krayola,
The Blues Magoos,
Clear Light,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
David Axelrod,
Kerri Chandler,
Camberwell Now,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Birthday Party,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
MC5,
Barry Ungar,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Cymande,
Wally Richardson,
Absolute Body Control,
Slave,
The Offenders,
Gil Scott Heron,
Terry Callier,
The Standells,
The Sound,
T. Rex,
Anakelly,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
X-102,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Tropical Tobacco,
Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle.
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.