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 Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the güiro 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 Surgeon to the electroclash 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 Yazoo. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Larry & the Blue Notes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes 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 oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yazoo,
Organ,
The Names,
Al Stewart,
David McCallum,
Ice-T,
Suicide,
Kas Product,
Talk Talk,
Suburban Knight,
Lucky Dragons,
H. Thieme,
Bill Wells,
Chris & Cosey,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
the Human League,
ABC,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Warren Ellis,
Eric Dolphy,
New York Dolls,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Offenders,
Altered Images,
Sex Pistols,
Harmonia,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Roxy Music,
Hot Snakes,
The Velvet Underground,
Goldenarms,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Gun Club,
Brass Construction,
Schoolly D,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Delon & Dalcan,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
New Age Steppers,
Moebius,
Nas,
Ultimate Spinach,
Massinfluence,
Funkadelic,
Sonic Youth,
Qualms,
Heaven 17,
Echospace,
The Black Dice,
The Misunderstood,
Josef K,
Bush Tetras,
Joyce Sims,
Vainqueur,
Porter Ricks,
Laurel Aitken,
Bill Near,
Scott Walker,
The Beau Brummels,
Bobby Sherman,
Wings,
Joy Division,
Nils Olav,
Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins.
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.