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 Marshall Islands and from Jakarta.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the 808 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 Larry & the Blue Notes to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Jerry's Kids. All the underground hits.
All Black Pus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Trojans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sonics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wasted Youth,
The Gladiators,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Althea and Donna,
Minor Threat,
Newcleus,
Girls At Our Best!,
Lakeside,
Lee Hazlewood,
Cheater Slicks,
Whodini,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Roxette,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Boredoms,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Duran Duran,
Erasure,
Al Stewart,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bizarre Inc.,
Eric B and Rakim,
Darondo,
The Star Department,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Dual Sessions,
Soul Sonic Force,
Amon Düül,
the Fania All-Stars,
Jimmy McGriff,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Easy Going,
The Gun Club,
Hashim,
Robert Wyatt,
The Seeds,
Hot Snakes,
Popol Vuh,
Rekid,
The American Breed,
ABBA,
Fat Boys,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Das Ding,
Toni Rubio,
Radiopuhelimet,
China Crisis,
The Cramps,
JFA,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Warsaw,
Erykah Badu,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Agitation Free,
Barry Ungar,
Avey Tare,
La Düsseldorf,
Ronnie Foster,
Camberwell Now,
Kevin Saunderson,
Funkadelic,
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.