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 Ireland and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron 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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the clarinet 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 D'Angelo to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 a-ha. All the underground hits.
All Amazonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Henry Cow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donny Hathaway record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
Swell Maps,
Chrome,
Absolute Body Control,
Agent Orange,
Malaria!,
K-Klass,
Parry Music,
Grandmaster Flash,
Brass Construction,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
OOIOO,
Isaac Hayes,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
New Order,
10cc,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Bronski Beat,
Lou Christie,
A Certain Ratio,
AZ,
Youth Brigade,
Jacob Miller,
EPMD,
Ituana,
Gichy Dan,
Bootsy Collins,
Kurtis Blow,
ABC,
The Tremeloes,
Alice Coltrane,
Outsiders,
Surgeon,
Buzzcocks,
Hashim,
Stiv Bators,
James White and The Blacks,
Eric B and Rakim,
Crooked Eye,
Skarface,
Kayak,
Au Pairs,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
New York Dolls,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The J.B.'s,
Moebius,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Dorothy Ashby,
Soft Cell,
cv313,
Fad Gadget,
Television Personalities,
Bang On A Can,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Nils Olav,
Judy Mowatt,
Tubeway Army,
the Soft Cell,
Crime,
Young Marble Giants,
Electric Prunes,
Gastr Del Sol,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.