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 Uganda and from Lille.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the organ 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 Yusef Lateef to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Brick. All the underground hits.
All Desert Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quantec 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 clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bootsy's Rubber Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
Urselle,
Easy Going,
X-Ray Spex,
The Mummies,
Surgeon,
Theoretical Girls,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Velvet Underground,
the Swans,
Kurtis Blow,
Cluster,
Shoche,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Gories,
Nils Olav,
Tubeway Army,
Wolf Eyes,
The Happenings,
Kool Moe Dee,
Leonard Cohen,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Grauzone,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Mr. Review,
Fela Kuti,
Sister Nancy,
Johnny Osbourne,
B.T. Express,
Kas Product,
Neu!,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Tropical Tobacco,
Marshall Jefferson,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Can,
Barbara Tucker,
Banda Bassotti,
Wings,
The Busters,
the Germs,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Marcia Griffiths,
Prince Buster,
Ludus,
The Monochrome Set,
Malaria!,
The Red Krayola,
The Move,
Bobby Sherman,
Bobby Byrd,
The Detroit Cobras,
Shuggie Otis,
Lungfish,
Scratch Acid,
Gil Scott Heron,
Piero Umiliani,
Lee Hazlewood,
Jeff Lynne,
The Slackers,
Lakeside,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.