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 Cape Verde and from Lyon.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Andrew Hill to the crunk 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 Be Bop Deluxe. All the underground hits.
All Slick Rick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The J.B.'s record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 linndrum and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wasted Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lucky Dragons,
Oneida,
Index,
Siglo XX,
Bizarre Inc.,
Flash Fearless,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Tropical Tobacco,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Crooked Eye,
Monolake,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pantytec,
Von Mondo,
Ituana,
Roy Ayers,
Mo-Dettes,
Marshall Jefferson,
Connie Case,
The Invisible,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Pantaleimon,
the Bar-Kays,
Swans,
Brothers Johnson,
Lyres,
Mission of Burma,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Robert Görl,
Livin' Joy,
Scrapy,
The Mummies,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Detroit Cobras,
Ken Boothe,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Technova,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Man Eating Sloth,
cv313,
Stetsasonic,
Black Sheep,
Jeff Mills,
Niagra,
Neil Young,
Jerry's Kids,
Black Flag,
Nation of Ulysses,
Cluster,
Todd Terry,
Terry Callier,
The Pretty Things,
The Real Kids,
Joe Finger,
Lou Reed,
Porter Ricks,
The Skatalites,
Drive Like Jehu,
a-ha,
Deakin,
Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk.
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.