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 Croatia and from Shanghai.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Donald Fagen 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 Mo-Dettes to the disco 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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Walker Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba 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 rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Excepter,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Fatback Band,
Siglo XX,
PIL,
Sarah Menescal,
The Litter,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Jandek,
The Walker Brothers,
KRS-One,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Barracudas,
Chrome,
Pulsallama,
Anthony Braxton,
Harry Pussy,
Dead Boys,
Scott Walker,
The Birthday Party,
The Tremeloes,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
ABBA,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Blackbyrds,
Mr. Review,
Crooked Eye,
The Moleskins,
10cc,
Khruangbin,
Gregory Isaacs,
Duran Duran,
Liliput,
Lindisfarne,
Basic Channel,
Slick Rick,
Accadde A,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Rites of Spring,
Byron Stingily,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Blancmange,
Grey Daturas,
Magazine,
The Real Kids,
June of 44,
Essential Logic,
Kenny Larkin,
Crispian St. Peters,
Drexciya,
L. Decosne,
Ken Boothe,
Donny Hathaway,
Joe Finger,
Sandy B,
Ornette Coleman,
The Smiths,
The Cowsills,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Buckinghams,
Von Mondo,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.