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 India and from Beijing.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Bremen.
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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the mellotron 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 EPMD to the punk 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 Deadbeat. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Womack tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Section 25 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Archie Shepp record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
Charles Mingus,
Barry Ungar,
T. Rex,
Franke,
Gregory Isaacs,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Mandrill,
Average White Band,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Sixth Finger,
Radiohead,
Marshall Jefferson,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Eurythmics,
The Kinks,
X-102,
Curtis Mayfield,
Connie Case,
Procol Harum,
Electric Prunes,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Erykah Badu,
Mission of Burma,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Soul Sonic Force,
Niagra,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Smog,
Lou Christie,
Joensuu 1685,
The Angels of Light,
the Soft Cell,
Sun City Girls,
This Heat,
DJ Style,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Gichy Dan,
Basic Channel,
Arthur Verocai,
The Young Rascals,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Nils Olav,
The Fuzztones,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Royal Trux,
Los Fastidios,
Duran Duran,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Pop Group,
The Gun Club,
Amon Düül,
Marvin Gaye,
The Detroit Cobras,
Ralphi Rosario,
Juan Atkins,
Ornette Coleman,
Dorothy Ashby,
Funkadelic,
Janne Schatter,
Black Sheep,
Kerri Chandler,
Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron.
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.