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 Guyana and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the sitar 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 Rosa Yemen to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Wasted Youth. All the underground hits.
All Stetsasonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Godley & Creme 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 Mad Mike record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Shadows of Knight,
Delon & Dalcan,
the Germs,
Stockholm Monsters,
Pere Ubu,
Khruangbin,
Aloha Tigers,
Lee Hazlewood,
Archie Shepp,
Groovy Waters,
Silicon Teens,
Roy Ayers,
Stereo Dub,
Joe Finger,
UT,
PIL,
Ralphi Rosario,
Thompson Twins,
Hot Snakes,
Rites of Spring,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Fatback Band,
Moss Icon,
The Count Five,
Joe Smooth,
The Motions,
Reagan Youth,
The Last Poets,
Skriet,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
KRS-One,
Carl Craig,
Index,
Quando Quango,
Ten City,
Malaria!,
Grauzone,
Main Source,
Gichy Dan,
The Sound,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Funkadelic,
Matthew Bourne,
Tomorrow,
Babytalk,
Barrington Levy,
Country Teasers,
Boz Scaggs,
Brick,
kango's stein massive,
Robert Wyatt,
Buzzcocks,
Arab on Radar,
Amazonics,
Dennis Brown,
Dorothy Ashby,
Marshall Jefferson,
Procol Harum,
Sun Ra,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity, Roy Ayers Ubiquity, Roy Ayers Ubiquity, Roy Ayers Ubiquity.
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.