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 Turkmenistan and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Saccharine Trust to the jazz 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 Cameo. All the underground hits.
All Wolf Eyes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro 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 harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
B.T. Express,
Average White Band,
Deakin,
Funky Four + One,
Lalann,
Goldenarms,
Groovy Waters,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Kurtis Blow,
Quando Quango,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Cymande,
The Fall,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Accadde A,
The Seeds,
Pantytec,
Mission of Burma,
Charles Mingus,
Jeru the Damaja,
John Holt,
Parry Music,
La Düsseldorf,
Moebius,
Dawn Penn,
Arcadia,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Aswad,
Hardrive,
The Dead C,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Sexual Harrassment,
Ponytail,
Smog,
James Chance & The Contortions,
X-Ray Spex,
The Remains,
Pylon,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Eric B and Rakim,
a-ha,
Bobby Byrd,
the Swans,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Grass Roots,
China Crisis,
Scientists,
Mad Mike,
Suicide,
L. Decosne,
Newcleus,
Rakim,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Swans,
Toni Rubio,
Barry Ungar,
Interpol,
The Gladiators,
Fat Boys,
Big Daddy Kane,
Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip.
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.