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 Equatorial Guinea and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Rakim to the grime 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 Donald Byrd. All the underground hits.
All The Golliwogs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Seeds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Count Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Essential Logic,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Spoonie Gee,
Suburban Knight,
Faust,
Inner City,
Chrome,
Dual Sessions,
The Blues Magoos,
Anthony Braxton,
Agitation Free,
Jesper Dahlback,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Nas,
Soul Sonic Force,
Terry Callier,
Bad Manners,
Sun Ra,
The Blackbyrds,
Gang Gang Dance,
The United States of America,
China Crisis,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Matthew Halsall,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Lyres,
Roxy Music,
The Slackers,
Marshall Jefferson,
Black Bananas,
Alton Ellis,
The Searchers,
Kurtis Blow,
Bluetip,
Hoover,
Fort Wilson Riot,
John Coltrane,
Royal Trux,
Terrestrial Tones,
Das Ding,
48th St. Collective,
Cluster,
Cecil Taylor,
Reagan Youth,
New York Dolls,
Althea and Donna,
Roy Ayers,
The Victims,
Archie Shepp,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Porter Ricks,
Rhythm & Sound,
10cc,
Shuggie Otis,
Joe Finger,
Letta Mbulu,
The Electric Prunes,
The Shadows of Knight,
The New Christs,
Lindisfarne,
Schoolly D,
Average White Band,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths.
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.