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 Yemen and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Mummies to the rock 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs. All the underground hits.
All The Grass Roots tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Albert Ayler,
The Grass Roots,
The Searchers,
Nico,
48th St. Collective,
The Neon Judgement,
Laurel Aitken,
The Electric Prunes,
Crime,
Sixth Finger,
Sarah Menescal,
Ultra Naté,
Eddi Front,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Bob Dylan,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Names,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Niagra,
Yusef Lateef,
Harpers Bizarre,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Agent Orange,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Dawn Penn,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
JFA,
Rakim,
Hoover,
Toni Rubio,
The Victims,
Curtis Mayfield,
Reuben Wilson,
The Doors,
Quando Quango,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Misunderstood,
Skarface,
The Walker Brothers,
The Modern Lovers,
Avey Tare,
The Gories,
Bang On A Can,
Glenn Branca,
Stereo Dub,
Khruangbin,
Danielle Patucci,
The Tremeloes,
Dorothy Ashby,
Alphaville,
The Cramps,
Deakin,
Donny Hathaway,
Camberwell Now,
Boz Scaggs,
Scratch Acid,
Yazoo,
Pylon,
Shoche,
Rekid,
Black Flag,
The Remains, The Remains, The Remains, The Remains.
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.