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 Belarus and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Jeru the Damaja to the disco 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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlbäck tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Dolphy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 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 Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Osbourne,
Mantronix,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
New York Dolls,
Babytalk,
The Motions,
10cc,
Cheater Slicks,
Girls At Our Best!,
Sister Nancy,
UT,
Stiv Bators,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Rapeman,
Desert Stars,
The Real Kids,
Lee Hazlewood,
Von Mondo,
Reuben Wilson,
DJ Sneak,
Frankie Knuckles,
Dennis Brown,
Lyres,
Chris Corsano,
Jerry's Kids,
a-ha,
Can,
Altered Images,
Barclay James Harvest,
Gong,
Robert Hood,
The Young Rascals,
The Gories,
Idris Muhammad,
Black Bananas,
Q and Not U,
Traffic Nightmare,
Mr. Review,
The Victims,
Max Romeo,
Excepter,
Liliput,
Moss Icon,
Youth Brigade,
Ultravox,
T. Rex,
Y Pants,
H. Thieme,
Charles Mingus,
Average White Band,
The Shadows of Knight,
Trumans Water,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
U.S. Maple,
Arab on Radar,
These Immortal Souls,
Minor Threat,
Minnie Riperton,
The Angels of Light,
The New Christs,
The Cramps,
Wasted Youth,
Anakelly, Anakelly, Anakelly, Anakelly.
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.