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 Lagos.
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 Johannesburg and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 linndrum 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 Ash Ra Tempel to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Saccharine Trust. All the underground hits.
All Michelle Simonal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Busters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arcadia,
Sun Ra,
The Trojans,
Khruangbin,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Mission of Burma,
Zapp,
Flash Fearless,
Malaria!,
Mr. Review,
James White and The Blacks,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Angry Samoans,
The Moody Blues,
Suicide,
Jeff Mills,
Jeff Lynne,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Tommy Roe,
New Order,
Crash Course in Science,
Y Pants,
Crispy Ambulance,
The American Breed,
The Leaves,
John Cale,
Procol Harum,
Dave Gahan,
Yellowson,
FM Einheit,
The Zeros,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
JFA,
The Slackers,
Das Ding,
Alphaville,
The Blackbyrds,
Wasted Youth,
Sandy B,
Vladislav Delay,
La Düsseldorf,
David Axelrod,
Deepchord,
Tropical Tobacco,
Aaron Thompson,
The Monochrome Set,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Matthew Bourne,
the Soft Cell,
Blancmange,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ponytail,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
CMW,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Jawbox,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Juan Atkins,
Boz Scaggs,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.