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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Stockholm.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Holger Czukay 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 Donald Byrd to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Pantaleimon. All the underground hits.
All Half Japanese tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every R.M.O. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lightning Bolt,
K-Klass,
Yazoo,
Joensuu 1685,
Ten City,
Alton Ellis,
Groovy Waters,
Peter & Gordon,
Shuggie Otis,
Moss Icon,
Johnny Osbourne,
John Foxx,
Subhumans,
Ronan,
In Retrospect,
Wally Richardson,
John Holt,
The Techniques,
Charles Mingus,
Pere Ubu,
Duran Duran,
Yaz,
Gabor Szabo,
Skriet,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
JFA,
Japan,
The Buckinghams,
Quantec,
Eric Dolphy,
Gang Starr,
Swell Maps,
John Cale,
Jerry's Kids,
Don Cherry,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Associates,
Albert Ayler,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Selecter,
Faust,
Nirvana,
Fad Gadget,
the Normal,
Ultimate Spinach,
Brothers Johnson,
The Human League,
Ossler,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Fatback Band,
Reagan Youth,
Pharoah Sanders,
Suburban Knight,
Skaos,
The Angels of Light,
Sam Rivers,
Connie Case,
Can,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.