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 Slovenia and from Delhi.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Von Mondo to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. All the underground hits.
All The Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spoonie Gee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Roxette,
The Alarm Clocks,
Porter Ricks,
Gil Scott Heron,
Aaron Thompson,
Organ,
Echospace,
Stetsasonic,
the Swans,
Wire,
Japan,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Livin' Joy,
Camouflage,
L. Decosne,
Fear,
Make Up,
Jawbox,
The United States of America,
Alton Ellis,
The Gladiators,
Mary Jane Girls,
John Holt,
Gerry Rafferty,
Scrapy,
Alison Limerick,
cv313,
kango's stein massive,
the Soft Cell,
Section 25,
Second Layer,
Black Flag,
The Barracudas,
Quadrant,
The New Christs,
Visage,
Ossler,
The Move,
Ultravox,
Man Eating Sloth,
Unwound,
Terrestrial Tones,
Babytalk,
Cecil Taylor,
Bill Near,
Bizarre Inc.,
Derrick Morgan,
Soul Sonic Force,
Sun City Girls,
The Moleskins,
Gregory Isaacs,
Au Pairs,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Loose Ends,
the Human League,
Pere Ubu,
The Black Dice,
The Kinks,
Flamin' Groovies,
48th St. Collective,
Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas.
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.