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 Zambia and from Taipei.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Second Layer to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Bad Manners. All the underground hits.
All Lebanon Hanover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reagan Youth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mission of Burma,
The Detroit Cobras,
Rod Modell,
Outsiders,
Reuben Wilson,
Erasure,
Amon Düül,
The Velvet Underground,
Funkadelic,
Average White Band,
Fugazi,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Laurel Aitken,
Technova,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Walker Brothers,
Black Bananas,
Joe Smooth,
The Smoke,
Lungfish,
Sonic Youth,
DJ Sneak,
Drive Like Jehu,
Hasil Adkins,
Suburban Knight,
Faust,
Marmalade,
Sex Pistols,
Oneida,
Fela Kuti,
Aural Exciters,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Public Enemy,
The Searchers,
The Offenders,
Camouflage,
Blake Baxter,
The Doobie Brothers,
Dark Day,
Jawbox,
Fear,
Fatback Band,
Panda Bear,
Unrelated Segments,
Yusef Lateef,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Knickerbockers,
Audionom,
Cluster,
Stetsasonic,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Sound,
Boogie Down Productions,
Alphaville,
Donald Byrd,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Star Department,
Arthur Verocai, Arthur Verocai, Arthur Verocai, Arthur Verocai.
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.