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 Uganda and from Mumbai.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Jesper Dahlback to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Rotary Connection. All the underground hits.
All Marcia Griffiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Delta 5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Index,
The Gories,
Shoche,
Althea and Donna,
Sarah Menescal,
Tres Demented,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Danielle Patucci,
Radio Birdman,
Big Daddy Kane,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Fat Boys,
a-ha,
The Fugs,
PIL,
Yusef Lateef,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Marvin Gaye,
Soul II Soul,
The Stooges,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Sexual Harrassment,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Funkadelic,
The Move,
Black Bananas,
Lungfish,
MC5,
The Dead C,
Boz Scaggs,
The Invisible,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Tommy Roe,
The Seeds,
Q65,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Angels of Light,
Tim Buckley,
Essential Logic,
Kurtis Blow,
Suicide,
Babytalk,
Ossler,
Livin' Joy,
the Soft Cell,
The Fortunes,
Mission of Burma,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Arab on Radar,
Don Cherry,
Gichy Dan,
Warsaw,
Brand Nubian,
Joey Negro,
Pantytec,
Kool Moe Dee,
Amon Düül II,
Rekid,
Interpol,
The Fire Engines,
The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans.
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.