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 San Marino and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 rhodes 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 Joe Smooth to the grime 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 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 The Leaves record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alton Ellis,
Scratch Acid,
Rakim,
Darondo,
The Evens,
Con Funk Shun,
Sarah Menescal,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Pop Group,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Los Fastidios,
Glenn Branca,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Joey Negro,
ABC,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Pulsallama,
Rotary Connection,
Don Cherry,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Faraquet,
Hasil Adkins,
Judy Mowatt,
Yellowson,
Eric Dolphy,
Camberwell Now,
Byron Stingily,
Anakelly,
Funky Four + One,
Slave,
Pussy Galore,
Sun Ra,
Boredoms,
Flamin' Groovies,
48th St. Collective,
Pole,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Wire,
Black Moon,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Pet Shop Boys,
Zero Boys,
Flipper,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Last Poets,
Davy DMX,
The Angels of Light,
Aswad,
The Golliwogs,
the Slits,
Essential Logic,
Piero Umiliani,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Amon Düül II,
T.S.O.L.,
the Human League,
D'Angelo,
Panda Bear,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Alison Limerick,
Freddie Wadling,
Q65,
Fort Wilson Riot, Fort Wilson Riot, Fort Wilson Riot, Fort Wilson Riot.
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.