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 Congo and from Copenhagen.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Michael McDonald 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 Sonics to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Tres Demented. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy's Rubber Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fifty Foot Hose 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 an oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The J.B.'s record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
A Certain Ratio,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Faraquet,
The Litter,
The Remains,
The Young Rascals,
Oneida,
Lou Reed,
Cymande,
Josef K,
Duran Duran,
Joe Finger,
Janne Schatter,
Joyce Sims,
The Gun Club,
Sight & Sound,
The Cure,
Lightning Bolt,
Livin' Joy,
Traffic Nightmare,
Au Pairs,
The Gories,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Alison Limerick,
The Shadows of Knight,
Man Parrish,
Massinfluence,
Prince Buster,
Gang Gang Dance,
Moebius,
Quadrant,
Dennis Brown,
Sun City Girls,
H. Thieme,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Ultra Naté,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Soul II Soul,
The Cowsills,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Dual Sessions,
Kerri Chandler,
Hot Snakes,
Minny Pops,
Chrome,
Loose Ends,
UT,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Neu!,
Hoover,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Cramps,
Sparks,
Ludus,
The Blues Magoos,
Black Sheep,
Marine Girls,
Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade.
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.