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 Austria and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 London Community Gospel Choir 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 Shoche. All the underground hits.
All Notorious Big And Bone Thugs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers Ubiquity record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin 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 güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kurtis Blow,
Cameo,
Suicide,
Ronan,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Isaac Hayes,
the Normal,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Warsaw,
Soft Cell,
Country Teasers,
Ultimate Spinach,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Doors,
Desert Stars,
Kool Moe Dee,
Pharoah Sanders,
Neil Young,
Sound Behaviour,
Fela Kuti,
Maleditus Sound,
The Busters,
Khruangbin,
John Foxx,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
New York Dolls,
The Birthday Party,
Groovy Waters,
Cecil Taylor,
Unrelated Segments,
ABC,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Dawn Penn,
Index,
Pet Shop Boys,
Flamin' Groovies,
Eddi Front,
Qualms,
Moebius,
The Velvet Underground,
Bob Dylan,
Animal Collective,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Gang Green,
Heaven 17,
Gang of Four,
LL Cool J,
Todd Terry,
Japan,
The Move,
Eden Ahbez,
Crash Course in Science,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
DJ Style,
Lightning Bolt,
Accadde A,
The Residents,
Roy Ayers,
Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub.
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.