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 Guinea and from Jakarta.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the theremin 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 Con Funk Shun to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Magazine. All the underground hits.
All The Cramps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gregory Isaacs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Q and Not U,
Barbara Tucker,
The Dave Clark Five,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ultra Naté,
Little Man,
Fatback Band,
Interpol,
The Standells,
Archie Shepp,
Banda Bassotti,
Unwound,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Zero Boys,
Soul II Soul,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Black Flag,
Roger Hodgson,
Circle Jerks,
The Misunderstood,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Pet Shop Boys,
Faraquet,
The Black Dice,
Jeff Mills,
Rhythm & Sound,
Sun Ra,
The Gladiators,
Sun City Girls,
Goldenarms,
Gang of Four,
The Neon Judgement,
Aswad,
Stiv Bators,
The Gap Band,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Music Machine,
Dead Boys,
The Busters,
The Doobie Brothers,
Graham Central Station,
Zapp,
Visage,
Magazine,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Saccharine Trust,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Supertramp,
Mo-Dettes,
June of 44,
Letta Mbulu,
the Fania All-Stars,
Pharoah Sanders,
Gang Gang Dance,
The United States of America,
Leonard Cohen,
Peter & Gordon,
Sunsets and Hearts,
D'Angelo,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
David Bowie,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.