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 Fiji and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Yellowson to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Fugazi. All the underground hits.
All Boogie Down Productions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sam Rivers 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fela Kuti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang of Four,
Sonic Youth,
Goldenarms,
Bauhaus,
Rotary Connection,
Index,
Monks,
Robert Wyatt,
Fad Gadget,
Jeff Mills,
Heaven 17,
Traffic Nightmare,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Mo-Dettes,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Gang Starr,
Danielle Patucci,
Laurel Aitken,
Black Sheep,
Iggy Pop,
The Gap Band,
The Grass Roots,
Von Mondo,
Pussy Galore,
Mad Mike,
The Monks,
Crime,
DNA,
Unwound,
Dual Sessions,
The Trojans,
Sister Nancy,
The Dead C,
The Index,
James White and The Blacks,
Todd Terry,
Cal Tjader,
Intrusion,
Reuben Wilson,
Lindisfarne,
Big Daddy Kane,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ultimate Spinach,
Bobby Byrd,
Sarah Menescal,
Desert Stars,
Dead Boys,
Popol Vuh,
Lalann,
Bad Manners,
The Neon Judgement,
Terrestrial Tones,
Andrew Hill,
Anthony Braxton,
Idris Muhammad,
OOIOO,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Jeru the Damaja,
Archie Shepp,
Black Flag,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth.
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.