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 Tuvalu and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 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 Cal Tjader to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Pantytec. All the underground hits.
All Sly & The Family Stone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stereo Dub record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
Negative Approach,
Vainqueur,
PIL,
Tears for Fears,
MC5,
Adolescents,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Mo-Dettes,
Smog,
Charles Mingus,
Ronan,
Idris Muhammad,
Yazoo,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Y Pants,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Gap Band,
Darondo,
Essential Logic,
Lou Christie,
Arcadia,
Sam Rivers,
Reuben Wilson,
Little Man,
Siglo XX,
Soft Cell,
One Last Wish,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Cal Tjader,
B.T. Express,
Alice Coltrane,
Delon & Dalcan,
Marine Girls,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Saints,
Angry Samoans,
Jerry's Kids,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Harmonia,
The Fugs,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Mandrill,
Scratch Acid,
Main Source,
The Electric Prunes,
The Count Five,
Eve St. Jones,
The Angels of Light,
Basic Channel,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Kool Moe Dee,
Sex Pistols,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Circle Jerks,
Jeff Mills,
Subhumans,
the Germs,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Index,
China Crisis,
The Red Krayola,
The Real Kids,
Scion, Scion, Scion, Scion.
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.