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 Iran and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Sao Paulo.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the theremin 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 Essential Logic to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Aswad. All the underground hits.
All Ultramagnetic MC's tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Clarke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar 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 harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Alice Coltrane,
The Move,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Gang Green,
Negative Approach,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
the Normal,
Kerrie Biddell,
Eddi Front,
Silicon Teens,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Donny Hathaway,
Iggy Pop,
Rod Modell,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Con Funk Shun,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Bill Near,
James White and The Blacks,
Brothers Johnson,
Sound Behaviour,
Tim Buckley,
Neil Young,
The Wake,
The Smiths,
D'Angelo,
Arcadia,
Peter & Gordon,
Scientists,
Buzzcocks,
PIL,
Joey Negro,
Andrew Hill,
The Martian,
One Last Wish,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Soul II Soul,
David McCallum,
T.S.O.L.,
Magazine,
Rufus Thomas,
Rhythm & Sound,
Isaac Hayes,
Roxette,
Quadrant,
Slave,
Aloha Tigers,
Drive Like Jehu,
Morten Harket,
48th St. Collective,
Roy Ayers,
Ronan,
Severed Heads,
Pulsallama,
FM Einheit,
The Cowsills,
The Victims,
E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer.
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.