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 China and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Black Sheep to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Severed Heads record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Derrick May record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Idris Muhammad,
Slick Rick,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
One Last Wish,
Popol Vuh,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Dead C,
Wings,
Sarah Menescal,
Wasted Youth,
Joensuu 1685,
Glambeats Corp.,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Marvin Gaye,
The Moody Blues,
Erykah Badu,
The New Christs,
Faust,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Crispian St. Peters,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Saccharine Trust,
The Fall,
Pere Ubu,
Vainqueur,
Con Funk Shun,
Desert Stars,
Lyres,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Shuggie Otis,
The Birthday Party,
John Foxx,
Bizarre Inc.,
Faraquet,
Grauzone,
Marcia Griffiths,
Swell Maps,
Harpers Bizarre,
Cecil Taylor,
Ponytail,
Khruangbin,
Jandek,
Hasil Adkins,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Donald Byrd,
Procol Harum,
Bauhaus,
Q and Not U,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
the Human League,
Adolescents,
Althea and Donna,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Moebius,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Suicide,
Depeche Mode,
Wally Richardson,
Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock.
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.