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 Kenya and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Charles Mingus to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Happenings. All the underground hits.
All Curtis Mayfield tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Five Americans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The American Breed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Last Poets,
Don Cherry,
The Associates,
Niagra,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
ABBA,
Rufus Thomas,
The Tremeloes,
Ohio Players,
The Fugs,
The Cure,
Second Layer,
Stetsasonic,
The Techniques,
Josef K,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Black Dice,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Black Moon,
Animal Collective,
Cal Tjader,
Crooked Eye,
Ken Boothe,
Piero Umiliani,
the Swans,
Hasil Adkins,
Lower 48,
UT,
Kenny Larkin,
Unrelated Segments,
Intrusion,
Avey Tare,
Main Source,
48th St. Collective,
Hashim,
Gabor Szabo,
Junior Murvin,
Dawn Penn,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Kas Product,
Gang of Four,
Moss Icon,
Aswad,
Jawbox,
The Slits,
Skarface,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Amon Düül,
Drexciya,
Black Flag,
China Crisis,
Blossom Toes,
Buzzcocks,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Sound,
Clear Light,
Alice Coltrane,
Ponytail,
FM Einheit,
Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget.
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.