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 Andorra and from Winnipeg.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the organ 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 Lower 48 to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Howard Jones. All the underground hits.
All Wolf Eyes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alice Coltrane record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a LL Cool J record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Schoolly D,
Jeru the Damaja,
Roy Ayers,
Gang Gang Dance,
PIL,
Electric Prunes,
The Buckinghams,
DNA,
Lou Reed,
Boogie Down Productions,
Alphaville,
Bill Wells,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Andrew Hill,
The Gun Club,
Derrick Morgan,
Sonic Youth,
Q and Not U,
Kaleidoscope,
Electric Light Orchestra,
JFA,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
EPMD,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Birthday Party,
Eric B and Rakim,
CMW,
In Retrospect,
Fluxion,
Marshall Jefferson,
Masters at Work,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Morten Harket,
Barclay James Harvest,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Beau Brummels,
Ponytail,
Frankie Knuckles,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Archie Shepp,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Dave Clark Five,
Quantec,
Fela Kuti,
Pussy Galore,
Joy Division,
Cal Tjader,
Basic Channel,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Television,
Roxette,
Tim Buckley,
Dave Gahan,
The Evens,
Patti Smith,
Deadbeat,
Scan 7,
Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron.
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.