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 Bangladesh and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Bar-Kays to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Royal Family And The Poor. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Tremeloes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord 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 All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Junior Murvin,
Alphaville,
Pulsallama,
Alton Ellis,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Inner City,
Audionom,
Bobby Sherman,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Slackers,
Rites of Spring,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Hot Snakes,
Severed Heads,
The Cure,
Pagans,
Albert Ayler,
Ken Boothe,
Rakim,
Jeru the Damaja,
Anthony Braxton,
Gil Scott Heron,
Man Parrish,
The Vogues,
Charles Mingus,
Kas Product,
Pantytec,
Roxette,
H. Thieme,
Warsaw,
The Associates,
ABC,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Chrome,
Bill Near,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lee Hazlewood,
Scott Walker,
Tommy Roe,
Soft Cell,
Graham Central Station,
Minnie Riperton,
The Velvet Underground,
Nas,
Ossler,
Sällskapet,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Zeros,
Negative Approach,
The Flesh Eaters,
Dawn Penn,
The Moleskins,
Steve Hackett,
Deakin,
cv313,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Talk Talk,
Carl Craig,
Cymande, Cymande, Cymande, Cymande.
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.