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 Croatia and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar 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 Larry & the Blue Notes to the punk 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 Crash Course in Science. All the underground hits.
All Inner City tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crispian St. Peters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 a harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
X-101,
The United States of America,
Gang of Four,
The Names,
X-102,
Rufus Thomas,
Loose Ends,
Deadbeat,
Adolescents,
Alison Limerick,
Dark Day,
Maleditus Sound,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Grandmaster Flash,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Althea and Donna,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Kinks,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Barry Ungar,
Television,
Flipper,
Terry Callier,
Sonny Sharrock,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Black Bananas,
Visage,
La Düsseldorf,
Arab on Radar,
Marine Girls,
Masters at Work,
Joensuu 1685,
Harpers Bizarre,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Knickerbockers,
The Monochrome Set,
L. Decosne,
New Age Steppers,
Idris Muhammad,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Martian,
The Neon Judgement,
Audionom,
Kaleidoscope,
This Heat,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Nik Kershaw,
U.S. Maple,
Brick,
The Last Poets,
Kerrie Biddell,
Janne Schatter,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Marvin Gaye,
Cal Tjader,
The Dave Clark Five,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman.
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.