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 Tuvalu and from Madrid.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manchester.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
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 Scrapy to the crunk 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 Ash Ra Tempel. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jimmy McGriff record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Desert Stars,
Circle Jerks,
Crash Course in Science,
Sex Pistols,
The Neon Judgement,
Minutemen,
La Düsseldorf,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Smoke,
The Raincoats,
Deakin,
Goldenarms,
Leonard Cohen,
Kool Moe Dee,
Mandrill,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Drexciya,
Robert Wyatt,
Freddie Wadling,
Siglo XX,
Vladislav Delay,
Lebanon Hanover,
Judy Mowatt,
The Selecter,
Joy Division,
Rakim,
DJ Style,
New Age Steppers,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Ludus,
Bizarre Inc.,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Fugs,
Gang of Four,
Jeff Lynne,
China Crisis,
Schoolly D,
Roy Ayers,
Dennis Brown,
Index,
Crispian St. Peters,
Moebius,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Max Romeo,
Rites of Spring,
Fela Kuti,
Joensuu 1685,
Hardrive,
Laurel Aitken,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Divine Comedy,
Urselle,
The Pop Group,
Curtis Mayfield,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Cheater Slicks,
The Blues Magoos,
Jacques Brel,
Iggy Pop,
Chris Corsano,
Todd Rundgren,
Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd.
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.