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 Mauritania and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 organ 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 Wings to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Basic Channel. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yusef Lateef record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a B.T. Express record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Nick Fraelich,
Eric B and Rakim,
Cecil Taylor,
T.S.O.L.,
The Selecter,
Oneida,
Junior Murvin,
Erasure,
Yazoo,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Star Department,
Royal Trux,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Unrelated Segments,
Andrew Hill,
Ossler,
The Shadows of Knight,
Warsaw,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Erykah Badu,
The Offenders,
Babytalk,
Pussy Galore,
Country Teasers,
Mary Jane Girls,
Basic Channel,
Moebius,
DJ Style,
The Smiths,
Drexciya,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Absolute Body Control,
The Standells,
Leonard Cohen,
Eurythmics,
Kas Product,
Ken Boothe,
Reuben Wilson,
The Neon Judgement,
Soft Machine,
Massinfluence,
The Golliwogs,
Sister Nancy,
Saccharine Trust,
X-101,
Man Parrish,
Steve Hackett,
Metal Thangz,
Joyce Sims,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
the Association,
The Real Kids,
Boz Scaggs,
Jawbox,
Alton Ellis,
Eddi Front,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Beau Brummels,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Pretty Things,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Black Sheep,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.