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 Seychelles and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the güiro 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 The Names to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Ronan. All the underground hits.
All D'Angelo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Shadows of Knight record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dennis Brown,
DNA,
Lebanon Hanover,
Don Cherry,
Shuggie Otis,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Cure,
The Beau Brummels,
Cal Tjader,
the Bar-Kays,
The Seeds,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Thee Headcoats,
Cymande,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Soft Machine,
Tom Boy,
Blake Baxter,
Boogie Down Productions,
Can,
John Holt,
The Mojo Men,
Sun Ra,
Index,
Second Layer,
New York Dolls,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Davy DMX,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
the Association,
Kaleidoscope,
The Tremeloes,
Minnie Riperton,
The Count Five,
Lee Hazlewood,
Howard Jones,
The Black Dice,
The Flesh Eaters,
Eric B and Rakim,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Liliput,
UT,
Kool Moe Dee,
Marmalade,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Toasters,
Pierre Henry,
Eddi Front,
Gang of Four,
Barry Ungar,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Standells,
Leonard Cohen,
Mad Mike,
Unwound,
The Golliwogs,
Fatback Band,
Althea and Donna,
Lalo Schifrin,
Toni Rubio, Toni Rubio, Toni Rubio, Toni Rubio.
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.