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 Iraq and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in 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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 clarinet 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 Make Up to the dance 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kool Moe Dee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin 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 clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Last Poets,
Terrestrial Tones,
Blossom Toes,
Public Image Ltd.,
Don Cherry,
Bob Dylan,
Tomorrow,
KRS-One,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Ituana,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Toni Rubio,
Kenny Larkin,
U.S. Maple,
In Retrospect,
Cameo,
Circle Jerks,
Drive Like Jehu,
Von Mondo,
Pussy Galore,
Sun Ra,
Aural Exciters,
Boredoms,
Ice-T,
UT,
the Slits,
The Busters,
Rotary Connection,
Quadrant,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Iggy Pop,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Remains,
Eden Ahbez,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Modern Lovers,
The Zeros,
The Cramps,
The Techniques,
Sexual Harrassment,
Electric Prunes,
Rapeman,
Kerrie Biddell,
Henry Cow,
Deepchord,
Skarface,
Animal Collective,
Silicon Teens,
The Dirtbombs,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Kool Moe Dee,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Public Enemy,
Interpol,
Lou Reed,
Tim Buckley,
Kurtis Blow,
Camouflage,
The Residents,
Arcadia,
Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare.
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.