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 Turkmenistan and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 Beijing and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Alton Ellis to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Q65. All the underground hits.
All Gang Starr tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vainqueur record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Jeru the Damaja,
Boz Scaggs,
Royal Trux,
Hashim,
Joe Smooth,
Eurythmics,
Chrome,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Laurel Aitken,
Nas,
Monks,
Shoche,
The Skatalites,
Derrick Morgan,
Blancmange,
Leonard Cohen,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Harmonia,
Sun Ra,
Banda Bassotti,
Subhumans,
Gang Starr,
The Wake,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Harry Pussy,
Amon Düül,
Hardrive,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Ponytail,
DJ Sneak,
Public Enemy,
Anthony Braxton,
Skaos,
Magazine,
These Immortal Souls,
Lungfish,
The Doobie Brothers,
Kevin Saunderson,
Theoretical Girls,
Max Romeo,
The Gun Club,
Yusef Lateef,
Pagans,
Das Ding,
Joy Division,
Terry Callier,
Deadbeat,
Eve St. Jones,
the Germs,
Cameo,
Zero Boys,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Archie Shepp,
David McCallum,
Arcadia,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lower 48,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Rod Modell,
Neil Young,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx, Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx, Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx, Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx.
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.