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 Liberia and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Banda Bassotti to the grime 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All Shoche tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a marimba 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 synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Durutti Column,
Massinfluence,
Avey Tare,
Dead Boys,
Junior Murvin,
One Last Wish,
Idris Muhammad,
Arthur Verocai,
Sonic Youth,
Easy Going,
Eden Ahbez,
The Shadows of Knight,
Sight & Sound,
Aswad,
Pylon,
The Seeds,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Ice-T,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Unwound,
Brick,
Fear,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Groovy Waters,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Dead C,
Alton Ellis,
Jacob Miller,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ten City,
The Neon Judgement,
Stetsasonic,
Joey Negro,
Joe Smooth,
The Monks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Jawbox,
Kas Product,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Godley & Creme,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Hasil Adkins,
Crispian St. Peters,
Subhumans,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Gun Club,
Spoonie Gee,
Robert Wyatt,
The Blues Magoos,
Big Daddy Kane,
Kevin Saunderson,
Mandrill,
Mark Hollis,
Ornette Coleman,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Angry Samoans,
Minutemen,
The Litter,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.