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 Morocco and from Paris.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Bootsy Collins to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All Gichy Dan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lightning Bolt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a marimba and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Monolake,
Grey Daturas,
Bobby Womack,
Ten City,
Boz Scaggs,
Panda Bear,
Monks,
Prince Buster,
Bluetip,
The Gun Club,
Johnny Osbourne,
Dawn Penn,
The Doobie Brothers,
the Normal,
Bush Tetras,
Severed Heads,
The Last Poets,
Gang Starr,
Little Man,
Pagans,
Sun City Girls,
Mission of Burma,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Minny Pops,
Groovy Waters,
Scion,
Japan,
The Moody Blues,
Arthur Verocai,
Animal Collective,
Masters at Work,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Pulsallama,
Arcadia,
Gastr Del Sol,
Public Image Ltd.,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Excepter,
the Sonics,
Eve St. Jones,
Eric Copeland,
Gang Green,
Youth Brigade,
Soul II Soul,
Neu!,
The Cramps,
Television,
Dorothy Ashby,
Lungfish,
Connie Case,
Moebius,
Inner City,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Motions,
Pet Shop Boys,
Roxy Music,
The Durutti Column,
Sparks,
Royal Trux,
Goldenarms,
Newcleus,
Black Sheep,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.