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 Finland and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 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 June Days to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All Nirvana tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an organ 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 clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gastr Del Sol,
Slick Rick,
Jerry's Kids,
Cabaret Voltaire,
A Certain Ratio,
The Pop Group,
Sonic Youth,
The J.B.'s,
The Blues Magoos,
Marshall Jefferson,
a-ha,
Delta 5,
Cal Tjader,
The Saints,
DNA,
Gil Scott Heron,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Cymande,
Shoche,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Tears for Fears,
Jesper Dahlback,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Pussy Galore,
The Walker Brothers,
Parry Music,
The Evens,
U.S. Maple,
Panda Bear,
Das Ding,
Deepchord,
Skaos,
Thompson Twins,
Camberwell Now,
David Bowie,
Flamin' Groovies,
Mantronix,
Angry Samoans,
Altered Images,
Lalann,
The Smoke,
In Retrospect,
Zero Boys,
Yellowson,
X-Ray Spex,
K-Klass,
The Fuzztones,
The Busters,
Inner City,
Glambeats Corp.,
Television,
Intrusion,
Swell Maps,
Warren Ellis,
Chrome,
Roxette,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bill Near,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Matthew Halsall,
The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges.
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.