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 Rwanda and from Portland.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Pulsallama to the crunk 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 Man Parrish. All the underground hits.
All Harry Pussy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-102 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer 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 sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Depeche Mode,
The Detroit Cobras,
Aloha Tigers,
H. Thieme,
Aswad,
the Slits,
Shuggie Otis,
Alton Ellis,
Audionom,
Peter and Kerry,
Dorothy Ashby,
Charles Mingus,
Bush Tetras,
Popol Vuh,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Lucky Dragons,
Reagan Youth,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Victims,
Rites of Spring,
Monolake,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Pulsallama,
MC5,
The Fugs,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Ralphi Rosario,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Excepter,
In Retrospect,
Hashim,
Radiohead,
Lalo Schifrin,
Theoretical Girls,
Angry Samoans,
Ultravox,
Young Marble Giants,
Subhumans,
The Neon Judgement,
Crooked Eye,
Gang of Four,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Fall,
Roxette,
Joy Division,
Danielle Patucci,
Terry Callier,
Alison Limerick,
Bobby Byrd,
Crispy Ambulance,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Monks,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Anakelly,
Marc Almond,
Eurythmics,
Kayak,
Oblivians,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Clear Light,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros.
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.