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 Indonesia and from Sao Paulo.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deepchord,
Pere Ubu,
Anthony Braxton,
Scion,
Rapeman,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Beau Brummels,
The Skatalites,
Bill Wells,
Symarip,
Dorothy Ashby,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Hot Snakes,
Avey Tare,
Tom Boy,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Alarm Clocks,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Deakin,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Pop Group,
8 Eyed Spy,
Glenn Branca,
Sonny Sharrock,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Freddie Wadling,
Lalo Schifrin,
PIL,
Pharoah Sanders,
FM Einheit,
The Smoke,
Mantronix,
Suicide,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Sex Pistols,
Marvin Gaye,
Trumans Water,
Television,
Cecil Taylor,
Crime,
OOIOO,
Los Fastidios,
Animal Collective,
Crooked Eye,
Agitation Free,
The Gap Band,
London Community Gospel Choir,
June Days,
In Retrospect,
Fluxion,
ABC,
Gabor Szabo,
Wasted Youth,
Jesper Dahlback,
Vladislav Delay,
Cameo, Cameo, Cameo, Cameo.
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.