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 Zambia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator 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 Donny Hathaway to the techno 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 Procol Harum. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Bourne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grey Daturas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Average White Band,
David Axelrod,
Flamin' Groovies,
Hasil Adkins,
L. Decosne,
The Trojans,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Blackbyrds,
Girls At Our Best!,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Real Kids,
Tres Demented,
Marc Almond,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Infiniti,
Eddi Front,
Kurtis Blow,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Heaven 17,
The Modern Lovers,
Sam Rivers,
Delon & Dalcan,
R.M.O.,
Monolake,
Monks,
Angry Samoans,
Scratch Acid,
Au Pairs,
Public Image Ltd.,
James White and The Blacks,
Black Bananas,
Ultravox,
Magma,
Minor Threat,
Cluster,
Zero Boys,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Ituana,
Kevin Saunderson,
Juan Atkins,
Moebius,
The Angels of Light,
Piero Umiliani,
Moby Grape,
Arthur Verocai,
Sight & Sound,
Gang of Four,
Jacob Miller,
Bizarre Inc.,
Carl Craig,
The Searchers,
Eli Mardock,
Mars,
Franke,
Rites of Spring,
Motorama,
Rufus Thomas,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bang On A Can,
The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers.
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.