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 Cambodia and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 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 Man Parrish to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Average White Band. All the underground hits.
All the Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jimmy McGriff record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a sitar 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 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gabor Szabo,
The Tremeloes,
Mo-Dettes,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Nirvana,
Patti Smith,
Sparks,
Magma,
Von Mondo,
Yaz,
Tom Boy,
Peter & Gordon,
Aloha Tigers,
T. Rex,
Boz Scaggs,
A Certain Ratio,
Drive Like Jehu,
Warsaw,
the Soft Cell,
Fugazi,
the Association,
Monolake,
Franke,
Juan Atkins,
Eden Ahbez,
Mission of Burma,
Matthew Halsall,
Warren Ellis,
Tropical Tobacco,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Grauzone,
Dawn Penn,
Brass Construction,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Index,
The Last Poets,
Surgeon,
Faraquet,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sixth Finger,
The Count Five,
The Velvet Underground,
Laurel Aitken,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Delta 5,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Alison Limerick,
Henry Cow,
The Smiths,
Television Personalities,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gang of Four,
Audionom,
Yusef Lateef,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Althea and Donna,
Donny Hathaway,
Byron Stingily,
Bad Manners,
Alphaville,
Dual Sessions,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Model 500, Model 500, Model 500, Model 500.
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.