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 Palau and from Beijing.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Arab on Radar to the electroclash 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 The Toasters. All the underground hits.
All Sixth Finger tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Intrusion 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator 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 All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Swans,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Fluxion,
The Raincoats,
Sun City Girls,
Janne Schatter,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Pantaleimon,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Chrome,
Blancmange,
The Sound,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Angry Samoans,
AZ,
Newcleus,
Aural Exciters,
Barbara Tucker,
Urselle,
Royal Trux,
David McCallum,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Smiths,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Eddi Front,
Kaleidoscope,
Glambeats Corp.,
Eric B and Rakim,
Altered Images,
Mary Jane Girls,
Prince Buster,
Patti Smith,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Divine Comedy,
The Evens,
MDC,
Roger Hodgson,
Erykah Badu,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
John Lydon,
Joey Negro,
David Bowie,
Bang On A Can,
Scratch Acid,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Mark Hollis,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Dark Day,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Infiniti,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Pharoah Sanders,
Fad Gadget,
Stetsasonic,
Siglo XX,
Supertramp,
Steve Hackett,
The Dave Clark Five,
Wire, Wire, Wire, Wire.
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.