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 Zimbabwe and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 guitar 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the disco 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 Hoover. All the underground hits.
All Siouxsie and the Banshees tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skriet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 sitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Buckinghams record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cluster,
Swans,
Terrestrial Tones,
Zapp,
Al Stewart,
Zero Boys,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Idris Muhammad,
The Angels of Light,
The Monks,
Infiniti,
Agitation Free,
Harmonia,
Shuggie Otis,
X-101,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Chris Corsano,
Underground Resistance,
Stockholm Monsters,
Lucky Dragons,
Loose Ends,
James White and The Blacks,
Dual Sessions,
Eric Dolphy,
Sonic Youth,
Erykah Badu,
Ten City,
Eddi Front,
Barrington Levy,
X-Ray Spex,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Ituana,
Robert Wyatt,
The Fugs,
Fear,
Todd Rundgren,
Goldenarms,
The Mojo Men,
The Young Rascals,
The Associates,
The Seeds,
Jacques Brel,
Chris & Cosey,
Robert Hood,
The Durutti Column,
Trumans Water,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Gerry Rafferty,
Rakim,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Swell Maps,
In Retrospect,
Charles Mingus,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Marshall Jefferson,
Marvin Gaye,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Stetsasonic,
Rufus Thomas,
Qualms,
Sister Nancy,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Marcia Griffiths,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.