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 Syria and from Columbus.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Moody Blues to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Metal Thangz. All the underground hits.
All Grauzone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Monochrome Set 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a chamberlin 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 oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Human League,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Zeros,
Blake Baxter,
Black Bananas,
Rekid,
Roxy Music,
Lalann,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Henry Cow,
Crime,
The Fortunes,
the Soft Cell,
the Human League,
Alison Limerick,
Jeff Lynne,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Johnny Clarke,
Erykah Badu,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Little Man,
Pantaleimon,
Shoche,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ice-T,
Reuben Wilson,
Warsaw,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Sound,
The Names,
Ohio Players,
Main Source,
Jeru the Damaja,
Man Parrish,
The Buckinghams,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Ituana,
Barry Ungar,
Sonic Youth,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Wire,
T. Rex,
Faraquet,
The Detroit Cobras,
Kevin Saunderson,
Bootsy Collins,
Lyres,
The Flesh Eaters,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Todd Rundgren,
The American Breed,
Bizarre Inc.,
David Axelrod,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Dead C,
Jerry's Kids,
Ken Boothe,
Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish.
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.