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 Pakistan and from Sao Paulo.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Bang On A Can to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Stiv Bators. All the underground hits.
All Sad Lovers and Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Agitation Free record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 808 and a clarinet 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 rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cowsills,
Godley & Creme,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Gichy Dan,
Anthony Braxton,
David Axelrod,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Nick Fraelich,
Danielle Patucci,
Thompson Twins,
The Buckinghams,
R.M.O.,
Monolake,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Tres Demented,
Swell Maps,
K-Klass,
Traffic Nightmare,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Outsiders,
Lindisfarne,
Ten City,
Yaz,
Mary Jane Girls,
Crooked Eye,
Funky Four + One,
Johnny Osbourne,
Subhumans,
Davy DMX,
Country Teasers,
Make Up,
Heaven 17,
Radiopuhelimet,
Brand Nubian,
Scientists,
Charles Mingus,
Drive Like Jehu,
Siglo XX,
Maleditus Sound,
Ohio Players,
Deadbeat,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Second Layer,
Bad Manners,
Procol Harum,
OOIOO,
Alice Coltrane,
Isaac Hayes,
The Busters,
Nas,
Animal Collective,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Yusef Lateef,
The Velvet Underground,
The J.B.'s,
The Martian,
Shuggie Otis,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.