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 Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the marimba 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 Metal Thangz to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Motions 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a mellotron 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 arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Grandmaster Flash,
Monolake,
Gong,
Supertramp,
Sexual Harrassment,
Soulsonic Force,
Michelle Simonal,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Grauzone,
The Victims,
The Red Krayola,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
X-101,
The Real Kids,
Oblivians,
The Fire Engines,
Panda Bear,
Sister Nancy,
Nik Kershaw,
Bill Near,
Marcia Griffiths,
Outsiders,
Lucky Dragons,
Sarah Menescal,
Guru Guru,
The Angels of Light,
Q and Not U,
Subhumans,
David McCallum,
Electric Light Orchestra,
the Germs,
June Days,
Shuggie Otis,
the Slits,
Make Up,
Ohio Players,
Andrew Hill,
Ralphi Rosario,
Das Ding,
Harpers Bizarre,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Graham Central Station,
Popol Vuh,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Gories,
Y Pants,
Young Marble Giants,
The United States of America,
Jawbox,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Gladiators,
Thee Headcoats,
Vainqueur,
Neu!,
Derrick Morgan,
the Swans,
Colin Newman,
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.