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 Somalia and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Grauzone to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity. All the underground hits.
All Eric Copeland tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dead C 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 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 linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Max Romeo,
David Bowie,
Deakin,
ABC,
Jeru the Damaja,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bauhaus,
X-Ray Spex,
Maurizio,
Boz Scaggs,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Scratch Acid,
Nas,
Bill Wells,
The Alarm Clocks,
John Foxx,
Roy Ayers,
Metal Thangz,
The Move,
The Skatalites,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Names,
the Bar-Kays,
Rites of Spring,
The Smoke,
UT,
Agitation Free,
Kevin Saunderson,
Andrew Hill,
The Buckinghams,
Marine Girls,
Echospace,
Cecil Taylor,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Magazine,
Crooked Eye,
Ultra Naté,
Bobby Womack,
The Red Krayola,
The Velvet Underground,
Gregory Isaacs,
Blake Baxter,
Erykah Badu,
Fat Boys,
Scion,
Idris Muhammad,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Basic Channel,
Mantronix,
Ossler,
Public Enemy,
Al Stewart,
Minutemen,
Schoolly D,
The Wake,
Alton Ellis,
Marc Almond,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Juan Atkins,
Isaac Hayes,
Circle Jerks,
10cc,
the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell.
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.