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 Botswana and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 Stockholm and Columbus.
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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Curtis Mayfield to the disco 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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Nas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & John Cale record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 theremin and a mellotron 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 theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Maleditus Sound,
The Doobie Brothers,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Scientists,
Monks,
Scan 7,
Alison Limerick,
The Real Kids,
Davy DMX,
The Offenders,
Pylon,
Boz Scaggs,
The New Christs,
Sex Pistols,
Flamin' Groovies,
Toni Rubio,
Aloha Tigers,
Mantronix,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Nik Kershaw,
Gang Gang Dance,
In Retrospect,
The Grass Roots,
Procol Harum,
The Dead C,
A Certain Ratio,
DNA,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Cluster,
The Vogues,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Faraquet,
Mark Hollis,
Ralphi Rosario,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Fat Boys,
Bill Wells,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Shuggie Otis,
Suicide,
Newcleus,
The Count Five,
Young Marble Giants,
Model 500,
The Happenings,
Tubeway Army,
ABC,
Joe Smooth,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Ken Boothe,
Minnie Riperton,
Wolf Eyes,
Minutemen,
Trumans Water,
Idris Muhammad,
Massinfluence,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Five Americans,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Maurizio,
The Kinks,
Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band.
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.