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 Salvador.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Portland.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the rhodes 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 The Shadows of Knight to the dance 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 Reagan Youth. All the underground hits.
All Heavy D & The Boyz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Toasters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Association record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Magma,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Laurel Aitken,
Nirvana,
Todd Rundgren,
Freddie Wadling,
The Motions,
Johnny Clarke,
48th St. Collective,
Minny Pops,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Lower 48,
Terry Callier,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Young Rascals,
Ken Boothe,
Funkadelic,
Roxy Music,
Simply Red,
Donald Byrd,
Popol Vuh,
Scion,
Symarip,
The Associates,
The Moleskins,
Joe Finger,
Loose Ends,
Stockholm Monsters,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
a-ha,
Prince Buster,
Agent Orange,
F. McDonald,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Massinfluence,
Dawn Penn,
Harmonia,
Sixth Finger,
Terrestrial Tones,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Byron Stingily,
The Gories,
Bob Dylan,
Camberwell Now,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bill Wells,
Crispian St. Peters,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Five Americans,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Amon Düül,
Jacques Brel,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Evens,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Fugs,
Mark Hollis,
DNA,
Andrew Hill,
Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie.
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.