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 Nepal and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the guitar 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 Main Source to the funk 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 Crooked Eye. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hashim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rakim,
John Holt,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Saints,
The Martian,
the Germs,
Tom Boy,
Radio Birdman,
Glambeats Corp.,
DNA,
Pere Ubu,
Gang Green,
Procol Harum,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Fall,
Leonard Cohen,
Derrick May,
The Smiths,
Sparks,
Youth Brigade,
The Dirtbombs,
The Blues Magoos,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Monks,
Pantytec,
Robert Görl,
Camouflage,
Das Ding,
China Crisis,
Traffic Nightmare,
Yaz,
Thompson Twins,
Tropical Tobacco,
Camberwell Now,
the Bar-Kays,
U.S. Maple,
Circle Jerks,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Birthday Party,
Matthew Bourne,
MDC,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bootsy Collins,
the Slits,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The New Christs,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Evens,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Moody Blues,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Happenings,
The Cramps,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lalann,
Harpers Bizarre,
MC5,
T. Rex,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse.
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.