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 Vanuatu and from Spokane.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 theremin 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 The Gladiators to the jazz 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 Derrick Morgan. All the underground hits.
All Grauzone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jimmy McGriff 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Zero Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Boogie Down Productions,
Cheater Slicks,
Desert Stars,
Bill Wells,
Bobby Sherman,
X-101,
a-ha,
Rites of Spring,
Fear,
The Barracudas,
Kas Product,
Public Enemy,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ossler,
Stetsasonic,
Anakelly,
Minny Pops,
The Victims,
The Black Dice,
Ornette Coleman,
Eric Copeland,
Spoonie Gee,
The Beau Brummels,
Sällskapet,
The J.B.'s,
Carl Craig,
Harry Pussy,
Sonic Youth,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Blackbyrds,
Parry Music,
Negative Approach,
Qualms,
Todd Rundgren,
ABBA,
Barrington Levy,
Los Fastidios,
The Residents,
Thee Headcoats,
Gichy Dan,
Bauhaus,
Crooked Eye,
Jimmy McGriff,
Alton Ellis,
Mad Mike,
FM Einheit,
Peter & Gordon,
Leonard Cohen,
Wolf Eyes,
Fat Boys,
Malaria!,
The Vogues,
Easy Going,
Sound Behaviour,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Danielle Patucci,
Marc Almond,
Black Moon,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Marshall Jefferson,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.