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 Cape Verde and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Excepter to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Brothers Johnson. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlbäck tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bad Manners record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soulsonic Force,
Marcia Griffiths,
Albert Ayler,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Pulsallama,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Letta Mbulu,
Hot Snakes,
Minnie Riperton,
Slave,
Oblivians,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Gichy Dan,
Kaleidoscope,
Bobby Womack,
Boz Scaggs,
Mary Jane Girls,
Derrick May,
Banda Bassotti,
Drexciya,
Andrew Hill,
Pet Shop Boys,
T.S.O.L.,
Lower 48,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Yazoo,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Cameo,
Average White Band,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Stooges,
Rufus Thomas,
Skaos,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Frankie Knuckles,
the Sonics,
Pierre Henry,
Popol Vuh,
Toni Rubio,
Girls At Our Best!,
Qualms,
Cluster,
Marvin Gaye,
Boogie Down Productions,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Knickerbockers,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Franke,
DJ Sneak,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Tommy Roe,
Drive Like Jehu,
Warren Ellis,
Bronski Beat,
Sun Ra,
X-102, X-102, X-102, X-102.
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.