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 Uruguay and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Smog to the crunk 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 Tim Buckley. All the underground hits.
All Lyres tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Associates 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare 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 a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
The United States of America,
Technova,
Bobby Byrd,
Pylon,
The Raincoats,
DJ Sneak,
Rosa Yemen,
Soft Cell,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
New York Dolls,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Connie Case,
The Sound,
Nas,
Dual Sessions,
the Bar-Kays,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Ken Boothe,
Liliput,
Black Pus,
Thee Headcoats,
Con Funk Shun,
Bobby Sherman,
DJ Style,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Iggy Pop,
The Residents,
Letta Mbulu,
Marine Girls,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The J.B.'s,
June of 44,
Panda Bear,
Curtis Mayfield,
Massinfluence,
The Gun Club,
Robert Hood,
Godley & Creme,
Joe Smooth,
Gang of Four,
Babytalk,
Siglo XX,
The Count Five,
The Monks,
Fatback Band,
Funkadelic,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pole,
Mandrill,
David Axelrod,
Anakelly,
Henry Cow,
Popol Vuh,
Royal Trux,
The Slits,
David McCallum,
Lou Christie,
Laurel Aitken,
The Vogues,
The Fuzztones,
Sällskapet,
Gong, Gong, Gong, Gong.
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.