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 Lesotho and from Beijing.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Paris.
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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the oboe 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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Quantec. All the underground hits.
All Youth Brigade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MC5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yusef Lateef record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yusef Lateef,
Alice Coltrane,
The Offenders,
Davy DMX,
Toni Rubio,
Tropical Tobacco,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Charles Mingus,
Jacques Brel,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Fortunes,
Bronski Beat,
Arab on Radar,
Trumans Water,
Kerrie Biddell,
Ludus,
Dual Sessions,
the Germs,
Boz Scaggs,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Black Pus,
David Bowie,
Steve Hackett,
E-Dancer,
Colin Newman,
Amon Düül II,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Skaos,
Shuggie Otis,
Stiv Bators,
Outsiders,
Livin' Joy,
The Wake,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Dead Boys,
Aswad,
The Mojo Men,
R.M.O.,
Crime,
Lalo Schifrin,
This Heat,
Chris Corsano,
JFA,
Mo-Dettes,
Television,
Alison Limerick,
June of 44,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Cowsills,
Soul Sonic Force,
James White and The Blacks,
The Human League,
In Retrospect,
The Motions,
Reagan Youth,
Mark Hollis,
Crash Course in Science,
The Vogues,
Joyce Sims,
Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy.
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.