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 Bolivia and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in .
I was there at the first Suicide show in New York.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Goldenarms to the grime 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. All the underground hits.
All Colin Newman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an oboe 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 guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Associates,
David Bowie,
Hardrive,
Monks,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Reuben Wilson,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Faraquet,
ABC,
Mark Hollis,
Curtis Mayfield,
Symarip,
The Motions,
FM Einheit,
Franke,
The Smoke,
Junior Murvin,
F. McDonald,
kango's stein massive,
Alton Ellis,
The Searchers,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bronski Beat,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Patti Smith,
Gichy Dan,
JFA,
Black Flag,
Crime,
Das Ding,
Severed Heads,
The Alarm Clocks,
Graham Central Station,
Cal Tjader,
Icehouse,
Heaven 17,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Byron Stingily,
Arab on Radar,
The Dave Clark Five,
Mad Mike,
The Sound,
Black Pus,
Sister Nancy,
The Trojans,
The Shadows of Knight,
Jandek,
Slave,
The Leaves,
The Fugs,
The Neon Judgement,
Joyce Sims,
Fela Kuti,
Unwound,
ABBA,
Bang On A Can,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Slits,
Silicon Teens,
Minny Pops,
Ponytail,
The Techniques,
Ultra Naté,
Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy McGriff.
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.