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 St Lucia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Mighty Diamonds. All the underground hits.
All Cecil Taylor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cluster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Althea and Donna,
Aloha Tigers,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Rufus Thomas,
ABC,
Wings,
Matthew Bourne,
Barbara Tucker,
Franke,
Cluster,
Little Man,
Ornette Coleman,
X-102,
Pere Ubu,
10cc,
Letta Mbulu,
X-Ray Spex,
CMW,
DJ Style,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Harmonia,
The Fuzztones,
Stetsasonic,
Junior Murvin,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Livin' Joy,
Sparks,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Y Pants,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Trojans,
H. Thieme,
Scion,
In Retrospect,
The Count Five,
Cheater Slicks,
JFA,
Absolute Body Control,
Lalann,
48th St. Collective,
Gang of Four,
Warsaw,
Moss Icon,
Magma,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Guru Guru,
Eric Copeland,
The Misunderstood,
Unwound,
Pulsallama,
Swell Maps,
Jimmy McGriff,
Alice Coltrane,
Ossler,
The Searchers,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Moebius,
The Real Kids,
John Cale,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.