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 Marshall Islands and from Cairo.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Hashim to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Janne Schatter. All the underground hits.
All The Trojans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marmalade 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cameo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
Infiniti,
Niagra,
Pharoah Sanders,
MDC,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Kurtis Blow,
The Golliwogs,
Public Enemy,
James White and The Blacks,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Kool Moe Dee,
Swell Maps,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Fugazi,
Cal Tjader,
Marc Almond,
Delta 5,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Pagans,
Black Flag,
Audionom,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Skarface,
Joey Negro,
Sarah Menescal,
Ossler,
Heaven 17,
Hoover,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Kinks,
Duran Duran,
The Zeros,
The Names,
Unwound,
the Bar-Kays,
Jeff Lynne,
Ornette Coleman,
Cymande,
Matthew Bourne,
Michelle Simonal,
Carl Craig,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Outsiders,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Stockholm Monsters,
Bobby Womack,
Country Teasers,
Mars,
Black Sheep,
The Vogues,
the Fania All-Stars,
Amazonics,
The Misunderstood,
Icehouse,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Graham Central Station,
The Standells,
Bob Dylan,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Searchers,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers.
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.