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 Fiji and from Toronto.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Lagos.
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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Panda Bear to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All The J.B.'s tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Doors 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet 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 clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Hutcherson,
Radiohead,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Althea and Donna,
Brand Nubian,
Janne Schatter,
James White and The Blacks,
Kayak,
Idris Muhammad,
Television,
Ken Boothe,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Robert Wyatt,
The J.B.'s,
Tomorrow,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Lebanon Hanover,
Flamin' Groovies,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Faraquet,
Wally Richardson,
Theoretical Girls,
DJ Style,
Fela Kuti,
The Remains,
Brass Construction,
Los Fastidios,
Joyce Sims,
Boredoms,
The Names,
Lightning Bolt,
Bobby Byrd,
Niagra,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Jimmy McGriff,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Urselle,
Roy Ayers,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Ultra Naté,
Zapp,
Liliput,
Wire,
The Beau Brummels,
Tears for Fears,
Crash Course in Science,
The Barracudas,
Eric Copeland,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Soft Cell,
Aloha Tigers,
Bobby Womack,
La Düsseldorf,
K-Klass,
The Selecter,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Unwound,
Ossler,
Black Moon,
Scratch Acid,
The New Christs,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry.
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.