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 Afghanistan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Madrid.
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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Rufus Thomas to the electroclash 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 Porter Ricks. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Zero Boys 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Hutcherson,
Moby Grape,
Yaz,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Man Eating Sloth,
Television Personalities,
Tropical Tobacco,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Second Layer,
Whodini,
LL Cool J,
Rakim,
Toni Rubio,
Darondo,
Nirvana,
Cal Tjader,
Jesper Dahlback,
This Heat,
Terrestrial Tones,
Crooked Eye,
The Mummies,
Gastr Del Sol,
Eden Ahbez,
Roy Ayers,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Donald Byrd,
Judy Mowatt,
The Standells,
The Blackbyrds,
Derrick Morgan,
The Fire Engines,
Bronski Beat,
Charles Mingus,
Donny Hathaway,
The Young Rascals,
Eric Dolphy,
Motorama,
Boredoms,
David Axelrod,
Thompson Twins,
Stetsasonic,
Ossler,
Thee Headcoats,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Slits,
The Blues Magoos,
Lou Reed,
Harmonia,
The Angels of Light,
Laurel Aitken,
Morten Harket,
Reuben Wilson,
Con Funk Shun,
The Black Dice,
Tommy Roe,
The Star Department,
Negative Approach,
Animal Collective,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.