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 Shanghai.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Major Organ And The Adding Machine to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Sound Behaviour. All the underground hits.
All The Walker Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro 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 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Big Daddy Kane,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Brass Construction,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Grandmaster Flash,
Toni Rubio,
The Seeds,
Fear,
DJ Style,
The Flesh Eaters,
John Cale,
Avey Tare,
Television Personalities,
The Blues Magoos,
Johnny Clarke,
Outsiders,
JFA,
The Stooges,
Wire,
Darondo,
Lower 48,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bronski Beat,
Lebanon Hanover,
Matthew Halsall,
Rotary Connection,
The Walker Brothers,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Fat Boys,
Urselle,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Delta 5,
Dead Boys,
Visage,
Ralphi Rosario,
Drexciya,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Sun Ra,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Beau Brummels,
Stockholm Monsters,
Animal Collective,
Underground Resistance,
Average White Band,
Das Ding,
Make Up,
Pole,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ohio Players,
Duran Duran,
Minor Threat,
F. McDonald,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Piero Umiliani,
New Age Steppers,
Spoonie Gee,
Eric Copeland,
New Order,
Livin' Joy,
Smog,
The Litter,
La Düsseldorf,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things.
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.