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 Albania and from Madrid.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Radio Birdman to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Slits. All the underground hits.
All Country Teasers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Detroit Cobras 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 an organ and an arpeggiator 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 organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Motions,
Glenn Branca,
Erasure,
Lungfish,
Pole,
James White and The Blacks,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Soft Cell,
Intrusion,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Human League,
H. Thieme,
Essential Logic,
Metal Thangz,
The Trojans,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Young Marble Giants,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Fad Gadget,
Flipper,
Johnny Osbourne,
Nick Fraelich,
Little Man,
Icehouse,
Visage,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Mojo Men,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Quantec,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Techniques,
Gang Green,
Blancmange,
Throbbing Gristle,
Negative Approach,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Vogues,
Simply Red,
Iggy Pop,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Divine Comedy,
Black Flag,
Terry Callier,
Sarah Menescal,
Monolake,
Eurythmics,
The Music Machine,
Aswad,
48th St. Collective,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ralphi Rosario,
Depeche Mode,
World's Most,
Aaron Thompson,
Alton Ellis,
Dead Boys,
Donny Hathaway,
Maurizio, Maurizio, Maurizio, Maurizio.
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.