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 Barbados and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the marimba 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 The Royal Family And The Poor to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Blossom Toes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Liaisons Dangereuses 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin 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 spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Panda Bear,
Jerry's Kids,
Mr. Review,
The Divine Comedy,
Bizarre Inc.,
Joe Smooth,
Josef K,
Organ,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sparks,
The Sonics,
Underground Resistance,
Section 25,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Cluster,
ABBA,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sixth Finger,
Inner City,
Talk Talk,
Al Stewart,
Hot Snakes,
The Blackbyrds,
Electric Prunes,
Mo-Dettes,
Gregory Isaacs,
Babytalk,
Mark Hollis,
Amon Düül,
Andrew Hill,
8 Eyed Spy,
Alison Limerick,
The Detroit Cobras,
Absolute Body Control,
The Doobie Brothers,
The United States of America,
Robert Wyatt,
Amon Düül II,
Wings,
Barry Ungar,
Minutemen,
Darondo,
The Slackers,
DJ Style,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lou Christie,
Jawbox,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Pussy Galore,
Ice-T,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Black Pus,
Masters at Work,
David Axelrod,
Cymande,
T. Rex,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Simply Red,
Aural Exciters,
Mantronix,
The Monochrome Set,
Dead Boys,
The Skatalites,
Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone.
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.