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 Cape Verde and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the organ 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 Tropical Tobacco to the punk 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 Oblivians. All the underground hits.
All Heaven 17 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Youth Brigade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 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 marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Move,
Albert Ayler,
Lower 48,
Supertramp,
Tropical Tobacco,
K-Klass,
Moebius,
Parry Music,
Amon Düül II,
Von Mondo,
Brothers Johnson,
Nick Fraelich,
Robert Hood,
The Blues Magoos,
Radiopuhelimet,
Blossom Toes,
Jawbox,
PIL,
The Seeds,
Agitation Free,
Au Pairs,
Marmalade,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
EPMD,
Eddi Front,
Laurel Aitken,
Bang On A Can,
Man Eating Sloth,
John Foxx,
The Remains,
Average White Band,
8 Eyed Spy,
New Order,
Eli Mardock,
Pagans,
The Gap Band,
Sonny Sharrock,
One Last Wish,
MC5,
The Standells,
Skriet,
Essential Logic,
Lyres,
Model 500,
Bobby Byrd,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
cv313,
The Gories,
The Barracudas,
Funkadelic,
Patti Smith,
Roger Hodgson,
The American Breed,
Prince Buster,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Raincoats,
The Dead C,
Letta Mbulu,
Stockholm Monsters,
John Coltrane,
Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne.
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.