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 Uganda and from Bremen.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Fat Boys to the grunge 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 Bill Near. All the underground hits.
All Gang of Four tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Royal Trux 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare 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 guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mandrill,
Au Pairs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Eurythmics,
Scott Walker,
Sex Pistols,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Five Americans,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Terry Callier,
Stereo Dub,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Flesh Eaters,
Junior Murvin,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Count Five,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Tom Boy,
The Offenders,
10cc,
Delon & Dalcan,
Minnie Riperton,
The Slackers,
Sister Nancy,
Sugar Minott,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Dave Clark Five,
the Human League,
Rakim,
Tomorrow,
Schoolly D,
Leonard Cohen,
Kas Product,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Shuggie Otis,
Mad Mike,
Bluetip,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Procol Harum,
Symarip,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Doobie Brothers,
London Community Gospel Choir,
David Bowie,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Model 500,
Ultra Naté,
Erykah Badu,
Aswad,
Depeche Mode,
Colin Newman,
Severed Heads,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Nils Olav,
Easy Going,
Neil Young,
Derrick May,
The Knickerbockers,
Black Bananas,
Suicide,
Ronnie Foster,
Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A.
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.