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 Benin and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Pharoah Sanders to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tom Boy 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare 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 linndrum and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Japan,
Dennis Brown,
The Human League,
Marvin Gaye,
Funky Four + One,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Funkadelic,
Wasted Youth,
The Vogues,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Invisible,
Nation of Ulysses,
June of 44,
Camouflage,
Pantytec,
Graham Central Station,
Von Mondo,
Bobby Byrd,
Fad Gadget,
T.S.O.L.,
Can,
Josef K,
Jacques Brel,
Sun City Girls,
Bootsy Collins,
Reuben Wilson,
Bobby Sherman,
Moebius,
Symarip,
Marcia Griffiths,
Suicide,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Silicon Teens,
the Human League,
Excepter,
Scrapy,
Fugazi,
Ultravox,
The Cure,
E-Dancer,
Spoonie Gee,
The Mojo Men,
Yaz,
Vladislav Delay,
Gang of Four,
Nirvana,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Underground Resistance,
Mark Hollis,
Masters at Work,
James White and The Blacks,
The Pretty Things,
Al Stewart,
Leonard Cohen,
Oneida,
Magma,
Chris Corsano,
DNA,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.