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 Haiti and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Bronski Beat to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids. All the underground hits.
All Barbara Tucker tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bill Near record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin 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 spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum 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 Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Mummies,
The Wake,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Joey Negro,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
New Order,
E-Dancer,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Peter & Gordon,
DJ Sneak,
Mary Jane Girls,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Zero Boys,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Nick Fraelich,
Peter and Kerry,
The Fugs,
Derrick May,
Unrelated Segments,
Half Japanese,
Radio Birdman,
Scion,
Cecil Taylor,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Khruangbin,
Jerry's Kids,
Qualms,
Kas Product,
F. McDonald,
The Mojo Men,
Von Mondo,
Agitation Free,
Swell Maps,
The Zeros,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Mantronix,
Alphaville,
Arab on Radar,
Unwound,
Hot Snakes,
Liliput,
The Dead C,
Gabor Szabo,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Goldenarms,
Matthew Bourne,
Marc Almond,
Barrington Levy,
Big Daddy Kane,
Essential Logic,
Porter Ricks,
The Pretty Things,
Faraquet,
Silicon Teens,
Reuben Wilson,
Aswad,
Magazine,
Swans,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.