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 South Africa and from Sao Paulo.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Philadelphia.
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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Model 500 to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Deadbeat. All the underground hits.
All Pantytec tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boogie Down Productions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 a theremin and a harpsichord 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 theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bizarre Inc.,
The Red Krayola,
The American Breed,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gerry Rafferty,
Cecil Taylor,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Standells,
Nirvana,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Charles Mingus,
The Monks,
Desert Stars,
Cheater Slicks,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Thee Headcoats,
Talk Talk,
Flash Fearless,
Unrelated Segments,
Stetsasonic,
Bluetip,
Fatback Band,
Khruangbin,
MC5,
Sällskapet,
Y Pants,
Deakin,
Scott Walker,
The Stooges,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Barry Ungar,
Idris Muhammad,
AZ,
Sonic Youth,
Rapeman,
The Victims,
John Foxx,
Depeche Mode,
Peter & Gordon,
Cymande,
the Soft Cell,
Panda Bear,
Sonny Sharrock,
Oneida,
Scrapy,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Susan Cadogan,
Suburban Knight,
Ponytail,
Reagan Youth,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Evens,
Toni Rubio,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Leaves,
The Last Poets,
R.M.O.,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Fall,
Eden Ahbez,
The Moody Blues,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Martian,
Gang Gang Dance, Gang Gang Dance, Gang Gang Dance, Gang Gang Dance.
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.