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 Austria and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 güiro 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo to the crunk 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 Fugazi. All the underground hits.
All Lee Hazlewood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rites of Spring record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 808 and a synthesizer 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 clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smiths,
Soft Machine,
Maleditus Sound,
Warsaw,
Terrestrial Tones,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Black Moon,
Leonard Cohen,
Glambeats Corp.,
CMW,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Lucky Dragons,
Anakelly,
The Stooges,
Ludus,
Godley & Creme,
The Count Five,
Con Funk Shun,
The Misunderstood,
The New Christs,
Metal Thangz,
Slick Rick,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Hashim,
Blancmange,
The Barracudas,
Jimmy McGriff,
Reagan Youth,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Scion,
Ituana,
Albert Ayler,
Skaos,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Graham Central Station,
Andrew Hill,
Babytalk,
the Swans,
Delon & Dalcan,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
F. McDonald,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Todd Terry,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Pharoah Sanders,
Black Sheep,
Derrick May,
Magma,
Tubeway Army,
Bluetip,
Wire,
Surgeon,
Von Mondo,
Arab on Radar,
Lalann,
Rufus Thomas,
Mantronix,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis.
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.