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 Paraguay and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the theremin 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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Scrapy. All the underground hits.
All Derrick May tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Fania All-Stars 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mandrill record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
Main Source,
Oblivians,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
the Human League,
Los Fastidios,
Harpers Bizarre,
Bootsy Collins,
Guru Guru,
Soulsonic Force,
a-ha,
Johnny Osbourne,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
DJ Sneak,
The Doobie Brothers,
John Lydon,
Chris & Cosey,
Quantec,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
John Coltrane,
Black Bananas,
The Doors,
The Seeds,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Scion,
Erasure,
The Selecter,
Underground Resistance,
Tubeway Army,
Boogie Down Productions,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Agitation Free,
Skarface,
Rhythm & Sound,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Erykah Badu,
the Swans,
Tropical Tobacco,
Aloha Tigers,
Visage,
The Beau Brummels,
Bobby Womack,
The Searchers,
Althea and Donna,
Blake Baxter,
Sight & Sound,
Organ,
Gil Scott Heron,
Barrington Levy,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Henry Cow,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Yaz,
Susan Cadogan,
Barbara Tucker,
Al Stewart,
Q65,
Liliput,
Lyres,
Max Romeo,
Isaac Hayes,
Harmonia,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.