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 Burkina and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Gabor Szabo. All the underground hits.
All Minutemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Half Japanese record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Durutti Column,
H. Thieme,
The Raincoats,
The Real Kids,
a-ha,
Public Image Ltd.,
Nation of Ulysses,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pulsallama,
The Misunderstood,
Yusef Lateef,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Roxette,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Urselle,
Jerry's Kids,
Country Teasers,
Eurythmics,
Au Pairs,
Danielle Patucci,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Count Five,
Fear,
MDC,
Donald Byrd,
Easy Going,
Agitation Free,
DJ Style,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Ken Boothe,
Essential Logic,
John Holt,
The Buckinghams,
U.S. Maple,
Tropical Tobacco,
Deadbeat,
Jandek,
Gerry Rafferty,
Vladislav Delay,
Minny Pops,
E-Dancer,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Pole,
Pantaleimon,
Bobby Womack,
Hot Snakes,
Spoonie Gee,
Sam Rivers,
Kool Moe Dee,
Moebius,
Soul Sonic Force,
Scion,
Black Flag,
Junior Murvin,
Slick Rick,
Max Romeo,
Aaron Thompson,
Popol Vuh,
Henry Cow,
Magazine, Magazine, Magazine, Magazine.
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.