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 Turkmenistan and from New York.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Joy Division to the electroclash 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. All the underground hits.
All Joyce Sims tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every H. Thieme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 theremin 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 mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minny Pops,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Unwound,
Leonard Cohen,
Donny Hathaway,
The Raincoats,
Moebius,
Charles Mingus,
Traffic Nightmare,
Minnie Riperton,
Funkadelic,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Fat Boys,
Sonic Youth,
Vainqueur,
Letta Mbulu,
Gastr Del Sol,
Ituana,
Terry Callier,
David Bowie,
David McCallum,
U.S. Maple,
Cameo,
Crooked Eye,
Faraquet,
Boz Scaggs,
Joyce Sims,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Angels of Light,
the Human League,
Kevin Saunderson,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Human League,
KRS-One,
the Swans,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Desert Stars,
Bill Near,
Whodini,
Man Parrish,
Adolescents,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Gregory Isaacs,
Brick,
Soft Machine,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Zero Boys,
David Axelrod,
OOIOO,
Kerrie Biddell,
Kaleidoscope,
Graham Central Station,
The Standells,
Bush Tetras,
The Sonics,
The Remains,
Symarip,
Jerry's Kids,
Circle Jerks,
The Misunderstood,
Brass Construction,
Inner City,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.