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 Kuwait and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 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 Rapeman to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Country Joe & The Fish. All the underground hits.
All The Cosmic Jokers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Monks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boz Scaggs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Juan Atkins,
Pole,
Gong,
The Gun Club,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Beau Brummels,
David Axelrod,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Connie Case,
Accadde A,
Masters at Work,
Lakeside,
Gang Green,
Deakin,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Hashim,
Robert Görl,
Pierre Henry,
The Motions,
Graham Central Station,
Curtis Mayfield,
Reuben Wilson,
Basic Channel,
Sister Nancy,
The Five Americans,
Porter Ricks,
The Martian,
Animal Collective,
Toni Rubio,
Jeru the Damaja,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Nas,
Oblivians,
The Victims,
Chrome,
Fugazi,
Severed Heads,
The Gladiators,
Blake Baxter,
David Bowie,
China Crisis,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Durutti Column,
Silicon Teens,
The Wake,
Eden Ahbez,
Angry Samoans,
Matthew Bourne,
Donny Hathaway,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Sun City Girls,
Dual Sessions,
Camberwell Now,
The Blues Magoos,
Motorama,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon, Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon, Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon, Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon.
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.