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 Guinea-Bissau and from Cairo.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 marimba 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 Bill Near to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Al Stewart. All the underground hits.
All Marcia Griffiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crispian St. Peters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slits record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DeepChord presents Echospace,
the Germs,
Motorama,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Evens,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Adolescents,
Essential Logic,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
James Chance & The Contortions,
X-102,
Japan,
OOIOO,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Prince Buster,
Cal Tjader,
R.M.O.,
Robert Wyatt,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Infiniti,
Franke,
the Sonics,
Guru Guru,
Urselle,
The Divine Comedy,
Laurel Aitken,
Alton Ellis,
The Standells,
Lalann,
Eli Mardock,
The Searchers,
Nik Kershaw,
David Bowie,
Gabor Szabo,
Zero Boys,
Donald Byrd,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Vainqueur,
Gang Starr,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Sonics,
Kerri Chandler,
ABC,
The New Christs,
Crime,
the Swans,
The Associates,
Mantronix,
The Human League,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Pole,
Ohio Players,
Smog,
Drive Like Jehu,
Deakin,
H. Thieme,
Ronnie Foster,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Blake Baxter,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.