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 Kiribati and from Woodstock.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 arpeggiator 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 Angry Samoans to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 The Litter. All the underground hits.
All The Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Strawberry Alarm Clock 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a harpsichord 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 mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sound Behaviour,
Tubeway Army,
cv313,
Cal Tjader,
The Fugs,
the Bar-Kays,
Patti Smith,
ABC,
Rufus Thomas,
Camberwell Now,
The Monks,
Brand Nubian,
Reagan Youth,
Idris Muhammad,
Youth Brigade,
Magazine,
Roxette,
The Seeds,
Darondo,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Vladislav Delay,
Warsaw,
The Invisible,
Silicon Teens,
Young Marble Giants,
Steve Hackett,
Sister Nancy,
Hot Snakes,
The Standells,
DJ Sneak,
Isaac Hayes,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gang of Four,
Ralphi Rosario,
Gil Scott Heron,
Black Bananas,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Motions,
Second Layer,
Byron Stingily,
Lee Hazlewood,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Quadrant,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
the Fania All-Stars,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
the Swans,
Joyce Sims,
Clear Light,
B.T. Express,
The Music Machine,
Y Pants,
Yazoo,
Aswad,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Fat Boys,
Visage,
the Normal,
The Raincoats,
Jeru the Damaja,
Letta Mbulu,
Joensuu 1685,
Erykah Badu,
Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead.
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.