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 Zambia and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the oboe 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 Eyeless In Gaza to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Surgeon. All the underground hits.
All Suicide tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Au Pairs 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin 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 spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The American Breed,
Rod Modell,
Scrapy,
Ronan,
Pantytec,
Lou Reed,
New Order,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Siglo XX,
Cluster,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Chrome,
Kevin Saunderson,
Tommy Roe,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Pussy Galore,
Henry Cow,
Skaos,
Derrick Morgan,
The Gories,
Stereo Dub,
The Slits,
Gang Starr,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Sonny Sharrock,
Little Man,
David Bowie,
K-Klass,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Buzzcocks,
H. Thieme,
Soul II Soul,
The Flesh Eaters,
Blancmange,
Jeff Mills,
Grandmaster Flash,
Nico,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Victims,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Con Funk Shun,
Quadrant,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Neon Judgement,
Smog,
The Fuzztones,
The Pop Group,
The Tremeloes,
Radiohead,
Pulsallama,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Stooges,
Piero Umiliani,
OOIOO,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Fluxion,
Shuggie Otis,
Technova,
Magma,
Soft Cell,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe 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.