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 Angola and from Edmonton.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Derrick Morgan. All the underground hits.
All Gary Puckett & The Union Gap tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Evens record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Modern Lovers,
Erasure,
Jawbox,
Hashim,
The Star Department,
Kas Product,
China Crisis,
The Remains,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
10cc,
The Martian,
Sex Pistols,
Graham Central Station,
Marvin Gaye,
Saccharine Trust,
The Toasters,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
New Order,
Ohio Players,
T. Rex,
Joe Smooth,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Victims,
Piero Umiliani,
Soft Machine,
Maurizio,
Anakelly,
Flash Fearless,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Tommy Roe,
Nick Fraelich,
The Dead C,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Glambeats Corp.,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Yaz,
Trumans Water,
The Busters,
The Sonics,
Crispian St. Peters,
Gong,
Basic Channel,
Royal Trux,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Make Up,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
PIL,
Peter & Gordon,
Spoonie Gee,
Underground Resistance,
Harmonia,
Drive Like Jehu,
Pierre Henry,
In Retrospect,
The Barracudas,
Pere Ubu,
The Zeros,
Audionom,
Tom Boy,
The Tremeloes,
Qualms, Qualms, Qualms, Qualms.
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.