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 South Sudan and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the güiro 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 Fugazi to the grime 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 Visage. All the underground hits.
All The Birthday Party tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cybotron 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 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 mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Walker Brothers,
The Standells,
Godley & Creme,
T. Rex,
Cecil Taylor,
Heaven 17,
Gong,
Brick,
Brass Construction,
Crispian St. Peters,
Skriet,
The Golliwogs,
The Blackbyrds,
Danielle Patucci,
The Human League,
Bob Dylan,
This Heat,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Fugazi,
The Saints,
Kas Product,
The Slits,
Whodini,
Dennis Brown,
Gang Green,
Chris & Cosey,
Reagan Youth,
Massinfluence,
X-101,
Tubeway Army,
Monks,
Mission of Burma,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Au Pairs,
ABBA,
Sällskapet,
Eric B and Rakim,
Monolake,
Joensuu 1685,
Derrick May,
Roger Hodgson,
OOIOO,
Henry Cow,
Marshall Jefferson,
Eve St. Jones,
Ten City,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Johnny Clarke,
New Order,
Kurtis Blow,
Fluxion,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Barrington Levy,
Technova,
John Lydon,
The Gladiators,
FM Einheit,
Jeru the Damaja,
Deakin,
Half Japanese,
Cal Tjader,
The Fortunes,
The New Christs, The New Christs, The New Christs, The New Christs.
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.