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 Ghana and from Columbus.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Eric Dolphy to the grunge 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 Alice Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All The Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sixth Finger 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bronski Beat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tommy Roe,
The Fugs,
Barrington Levy,
Harmonia,
Lucky Dragons,
E-Dancer,
Agitation Free,
Soul II Soul,
Unrelated Segments,
Kurtis Blow,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Cameo,
Quadrant,
Pantytec,
Alice Coltrane,
OOIOO,
KRS-One,
Underground Resistance,
Nico,
Magma,
The Smiths,
Mantronix,
The Cure,
Tomorrow,
Deepchord,
Scrapy,
Jacob Miller,
Half Japanese,
Roxette,
Rakim,
Das Ding,
Joe Smooth,
Flash Fearless,
Nik Kershaw,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Kaleidoscope,
Stiv Bators,
Eric Copeland,
Black Sheep,
Fatback Band,
Lindisfarne,
48th St. Collective,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Star Department,
Mark Hollis,
Sixth Finger,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Gories,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The J.B.'s,
Robert Görl,
LL Cool J,
Rapeman,
Fear,
John Holt,
The Golliwogs,
The Five Americans,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Marmalade,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama.
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.