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 Venezuela and from New York.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Nik Kershaw to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sight & Sound 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb 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 chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Interpol,
New York Dolls,
Shuggie Otis,
Flipper,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Cybotron,
Boredoms,
MDC,
Minnie Riperton,
Zapp,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Blackbyrds,
Second Layer,
Eden Ahbez,
The Seeds,
Metal Thangz,
Reuben Wilson,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Aaron Thompson,
Sex Pistols,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Human League,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Public Enemy,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Echospace,
Thee Headcoats,
Young Marble Giants,
The Index,
Alphaville,
Terry Callier,
Brothers Johnson,
The Cowsills,
The Toasters,
The Electric Prunes,
Dual Sessions,
Shoche,
Pagans,
Delon & Dalcan,
Procol Harum,
Icehouse,
Warsaw,
Bizarre Inc.,
David McCallum,
Erykah Badu,
Crooked Eye,
Bluetip,
Jandek,
Stereo Dub,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Ludus,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Doobie Brothers,
Peter and Kerry,
The Neon Judgement,
Fad Gadget,
Lou Christie,
The Angels of Light,
Ten City,
Danielle Patucci, Danielle Patucci, Danielle Patucci, Danielle Patucci.
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.