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 Antigua and from Manchester.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
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 Yusef Lateef to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sonny Sharrock. All the underground hits.
All Pylon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blues Magoos record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cecil Taylor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Happenings,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Maleditus Sound,
The Misunderstood,
The Neon Judgement,
The Index,
Underground Resistance,
Brand Nubian,
Fat Boys,
FM Einheit,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Yaz,
10cc,
MDC,
Gabor Szabo,
Neu!,
Matthew Bourne,
Make Up,
Radiopuhelimet,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Iggy Pop,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
K-Klass,
Quando Quango,
Howard Jones,
B.T. Express,
Glenn Branca,
cv313,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ultra Naté,
The Pop Group,
Rekid,
Y Pants,
Kenny Larkin,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Bill Near,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Move,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Goldenarms,
Sonny Sharrock,
Bob Dylan,
Mission of Burma,
Youth Brigade,
Sällskapet,
Section 25,
Terrestrial Tones,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Gun Club,
Second Layer,
Fatback Band,
Easy Going,
The Gladiators,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Livin' Joy,
Kurtis Blow,
Pierre Henry,
Kerri Chandler,
Hardrive,
Laurel Aitken,
Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic.
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.