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 Spain and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Quadrant to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Fatback Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jawbox record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a synthesizer 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 oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Terry,
The Monks,
Sarah Menescal,
Crash Course in Science,
Piero Umiliani,
The Selecter,
Mad Mike,
Andrew Hill,
Grandmaster Flash,
the Fania All-Stars,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Offenders,
Angry Samoans,
Pole,
Gichy Dan,
Audionom,
Stereo Dub,
Boogie Down Productions,
Absolute Body Control,
Yaz,
Terry Callier,
Warren Ellis,
Masters at Work,
Arab on Radar,
The Move,
The Walker Brothers,
Black Bananas,
DNA,
Excepter,
New Order,
kango's stein massive,
Faraquet,
Thompson Twins,
Pussy Galore,
Ossler,
The Searchers,
Tomorrow,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Saccharine Trust,
Erasure,
The American Breed,
Sam Rivers,
Severed Heads,
Chris & Cosey,
Delta 5,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Sound Behaviour,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Roger Hodgson,
Swans,
Frankie Knuckles,
Patti Smith,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Marine Girls,
Procol Harum,
Adolescents,
Gregory Isaacs,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Residents, The Residents, The Residents, The Residents.
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.