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 Georgia and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Fat Boys to the techno 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 Drive Like Jehu. All the underground hits.
All Dorothy Ashby tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The J.B.'s record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Guru Guru record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
Los Fastidios,
Second Layer,
Rhythm & Sound,
Royal Trux,
Bang On A Can,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Barry Ungar,
Godley & Creme,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Talk Talk,
Susan Cadogan,
Nation of Ulysses,
Pylon,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Gladiators,
Siglo XX,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Andrew Hill,
The Vogues,
Derrick May,
Severed Heads,
Cameo,
E-Dancer,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
48th St. Collective,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Easy Going,
Fugazi,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Durutti Column,
Lebanon Hanover,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Pere Ubu,
New York Dolls,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Bill Near,
Metal Thangz,
Arthur Verocai,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Harry Pussy,
Fatback Band,
Camouflage,
Fear,
Scientists,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Alice Coltrane,
Au Pairs,
The Zeros,
This Heat,
Boz Scaggs,
The Sonics,
Slick Rick,
Lightning Bolt,
Henry Cow,
Radio Birdman,
Isaac Hayes,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Sun City Girls,
Con Funk Shun,
Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players.
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.