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 Korea South and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 synthesizer 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 Blancmange to the crunk 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 Gang Gang Dance. All the underground hits.
All Los Fastidios tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 clarinet and a rhodes 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 marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Detroit Cobras,
Minny Pops,
The Walker Brothers,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Intrusion,
DNA,
The Cure,
Cluster,
Agitation Free,
10cc,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Idris Muhammad,
Bang On A Can,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Joyce Sims,
Quadrant,
Camouflage,
The Gun Club,
Au Pairs,
Tim Buckley,
The Sonics,
Easy Going,
China Crisis,
The Misunderstood,
Terry Callier,
Joey Negro,
Fear,
Max Romeo,
Throbbing Gristle,
Vladislav Delay,
Frankie Knuckles,
Amazonics,
Absolute Body Control,
Donny Hathaway,
The Doors,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Loose Ends,
Donald Byrd,
New York Dolls,
Colin Newman,
Davy DMX,
Tubeway Army,
Mars,
Arcadia,
Marcia Griffiths,
Robert Görl,
The Moleskins,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Birthday Party,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Alphaville,
Make Up,
Ken Boothe,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Fatback Band,
The Index,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Royal Trux,
Bauhaus,
The Wake,
The Busters,
Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover.
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.