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 South Sudan and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Lagos.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the snare 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 Bill Wells to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Junior Murvin. All the underground hits.
All E-Dancer tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Shadows of Knight record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 sitar and a snare 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 marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scan 7,
the Fania All-Stars,
Rekid,
The Vogues,
Cluster,
Niagra,
Yellowson,
Joey Negro,
L. Decosne,
Organ,
The Zeros,
Hashim,
Kevin Saunderson,
Joyce Sims,
Godley & Creme,
Wasted Youth,
Eric B and Rakim,
Harmonia,
Negative Approach,
Deakin,
La Düsseldorf,
The Knickerbockers,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Alton Ellis,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Lou Christie,
T.S.O.L.,
Gong,
The United States of America,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Nik Kershaw,
Minor Threat,
Das Ding,
Cymande,
Warsaw,
Ken Boothe,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Iggy Pop,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Brass Construction,
Bad Manners,
The Beau Brummels,
Camouflage,
Porter Ricks,
Masters at Work,
Michelle Simonal,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Yaz,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Associates,
Royal Trux,
Altered Images,
Man Parrish,
Bob Dylan,
Tres Demented,
Panda Bear,
Scion,
Ice-T,
Easy Going,
Pantytec, Pantytec, Pantytec, Pantytec.
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.