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 Mongolia and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 mellotron 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 Sunsets and Hearts to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Supertramp. All the underground hits.
All Darondo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kenny Larkin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Echospace,
John Lydon,
Main Source,
Crispian St. Peters,
Bobby Sherman,
Crash Course in Science,
Iggy Pop,
Avey Tare,
Faust,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bob Dylan,
Can,
Thompson Twins,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Smog,
Groovy Waters,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Smiths,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Tom Boy,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Tears for Fears,
Ken Boothe,
Lou Reed,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Cecil Taylor,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
In Retrospect,
Khruangbin,
Blancmange,
Pere Ubu,
Kas Product,
John Cale,
Soulsonic Force,
Josef K,
Bill Wells,
Flipper,
Dennis Brown,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
X-102,
Ituana,
Deadbeat,
Eric Dolphy,
Scion,
Oblivians,
Bobby Womack,
The Offenders,
Arab on Radar,
the Slits,
Sight & Sound,
The Saints,
The Cure,
Supertramp,
Sexual Harrassment,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Human League,
Deepchord,
Beasts of Bourbon,
D'Angelo,
The Moleskins,
Junior Murvin, Junior Murvin, Junior Murvin, Junior Murvin.
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.