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 Laos and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Nirvana to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 X-Ray Spex. All the underground hits.
All Sister Nancy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eurythmics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
Black Flag,
Nico,
Whodini,
Sonic Youth,
The Gap Band,
Pere Ubu,
Reagan Youth,
Mary Jane Girls,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Ituana,
Lalann,
Scientists,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Funky Four + One,
Zapp,
Wasted Youth,
Easy Going,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Yellowson,
Cal Tjader,
Laurel Aitken,
Rosa Yemen,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Johnny Clarke,
Alice Coltrane,
Barbara Tucker,
Quando Quango,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Reuben Wilson,
Lightning Bolt,
Bronski Beat,
Soul II Soul,
Negative Approach,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Circle Jerks,
Mission of Burma,
The Martian,
Bootsy Collins,
Shoche,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Unrelated Segments,
Charles Mingus,
Michelle Simonal,
Flipper,
Sister Nancy,
Drive Like Jehu,
Q and Not U,
Scrapy,
The Moleskins,
Barrington Levy,
Junior Murvin,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Skatalites,
Lucky Dragons,
Magazine,
Soulsonic Force,
The Monochrome Set,
Underground Resistance, Underground Resistance, Underground Resistance, Underground Resistance.
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.