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 Bahrain and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Gian Franco Pienzio to the rock 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 La Düsseldorf. All the underground hits.
All Faraquet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Knickerbockers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 snare and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Star Department 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?
Pierre Henry,
Television,
Radiopuhelimet,
Andrew Hill,
Alice Coltrane,
Faust,
MDC,
The Seeds,
the Fania All-Stars,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Vainqueur,
Los Fastidios,
8 Eyed Spy,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Real Kids,
Qualms,
Newcleus,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Slackers,
Sonic Youth,
Black Pus,
The Smoke,
Pulsallama,
Duran Duran,
Idris Muhammad,
Sällskapet,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Gong,
Arab on Radar,
Stiv Bators,
Desert Stars,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Mojo Men,
Smog,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Popol Vuh,
Monolake,
Wasted Youth,
Porter Ricks,
Hoover,
Gang of Four,
H. Thieme,
The Doobie Brothers,
Rosa Yemen,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Godley & Creme,
Harry Pussy,
The Offenders,
Sixth Finger,
the Germs,
Heaven 17,
Cal Tjader,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Minny Pops,
The Wake,
Nirvana,
Thee Headcoats,
The Walker Brothers,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gabor Szabo,
The Blackbyrds,
Barbara Tucker,
Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen.
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.