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 Benin and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 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 The Blues Magoos to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 the Germs. All the underground hits.
All Mad Mike tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar 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 mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonny Sharrock,
Ultra Naté,
Alice Coltrane,
The Black Dice,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Fugazi,
Absolute Body Control,
Ken Boothe,
Eve St. Jones,
The Moleskins,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Technova,
Goldenarms,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Albert Ayler,
Gang of Four,
Crime,
Desert Stars,
Sixth Finger,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Index,
The Golliwogs,
The Neon Judgement,
Sun Ra,
Dead Boys,
Symarip,
Amon Düül,
The Fall,
Half Japanese,
The Names,
Cameo,
Al Stewart,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Alton Ellis,
Y Pants,
Black Sheep,
Alphaville,
The Fuzztones,
Sällskapet,
The Smiths,
The Slits,
Joyce Sims,
Sex Pistols,
the Swans,
Todd Terry,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Suicide,
The United States of America,
Faust,
David Bowie,
Sight & Sound,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Nation of Ulysses,
John Cale,
Johnny Osbourne,
Mission of Burma,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Ossler,
Alison Limerick,
Cluster,
La Düsseldorf,
Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station.
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.