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 St Lucia and from Bremen.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the oboe 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 Black Sheep to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 JFA. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every London Community Gospel Choir record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb 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 güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Au Pairs,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Rosa Yemen,
Ronnie Foster,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Motorama,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Derrick Morgan,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ultra Naté,
Sonic Youth,
DJ Style,
The Names,
Sällskapet,
Lucky Dragons,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Hoover,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Dark Day,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
PIL,
Soft Machine,
Marcia Griffiths,
Scientists,
Camberwell Now,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Crispian St. Peters,
Boredoms,
The Knickerbockers,
Amon Düül,
The Neon Judgement,
Quantec,
Pantaleimon,
Arthur Verocai,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Slave,
Ituana,
The Fugs,
Grauzone,
In Retrospect,
Sight & Sound,
Idris Muhammad,
Wire,
Tropical Tobacco,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Junior Murvin,
Saccharine Trust,
The Red Krayola,
Tres Demented,
Can,
Whodini,
Yellowson,
Peter & Gordon,
Funky Four + One,
Joyce Sims,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Lower 48,
Popol Vuh, Popol Vuh, Popol Vuh, Popol Vuh.
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.