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 Monaco and from Winnipeg.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Mary Jane Girls to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Dirtbombs. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeru the Damaja record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb 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 Bar-Kays,
Q and Not U,
The Techniques,
Joe Smooth,
Amon Düül,
the Soft Cell,
Curtis Mayfield,
Easy Going,
Bizarre Inc.,
Subhumans,
Sexual Harrassment,
Andrew Hill,
Soul Sonic Force,
Interpol,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Al Stewart,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Velvet Underground,
Hoover,
PIL,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Toni Rubio,
The Fire Engines,
Joyce Sims,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Skatalites,
Ponytail,
Donny Hathaway,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Bill Wells,
Rapeman,
Depeche Mode,
New York Dolls,
Bobby Byrd,
Wolf Eyes,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Fortunes,
The Durutti Column,
Marc Almond,
Cecil Taylor,
Shoche,
Country Joe & The Fish,
B.T. Express,
Desert Stars,
Cymande,
Skaos,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Wings,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Ultravox,
DJ Sneak,
Television,
The Raincoats,
Amazonics,
Barry Ungar,
Swell Maps,
The Slits,
Dawn Penn,
The Offenders,
Little Man,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Glambeats Corp., Glambeats Corp., Glambeats Corp., Glambeats Corp..
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.