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 Liberia and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
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 Marcia Griffiths to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Jimmy McGriff. All the underground hits.
All Marcia Griffiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rosa Yemen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rufus Thomas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bush Tetras,
Peter & Gordon,
Aaron Thompson,
John Foxx,
Fear,
Althea and Donna,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Lou Reed,
Barrington Levy,
the Swans,
The Cramps,
U.S. Maple,
The Misunderstood,
Second Layer,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Crooked Eye,
Terry Callier,
Khruangbin,
Gang Gang Dance,
Avey Tare,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
June Days,
Shuggie Otis,
Kerri Chandler,
Leonard Cohen,
Duran Duran,
Negative Approach,
Carl Craig,
R.M.O.,
Gang Starr,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Techniques,
Crash Course in Science,
Blancmange,
June of 44,
Lindisfarne,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Moleskins,
Tomorrow,
John Holt,
Television,
The Litter,
Television Personalities,
Grey Daturas,
LL Cool J,
The Flesh Eaters,
Banda Bassotti,
Nation of Ulysses,
Donald Byrd,
Desert Stars,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Cecil Taylor,
The Mojo Men,
Idris Muhammad,
The Fortunes,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Stereo Dub,
The Barracudas,
Freddie Wadling,
Index,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.