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 Sri Lanka and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 sitar 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 Quadrant to the rap 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 Erykah Badu. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Inner City record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 theremin and a guitar 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 rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro 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 Music Machine,
Morten Harket,
Siglo XX,
Jeru the Damaja,
Panda Bear,
Model 500,
Marmalade,
Soft Machine,
Minutemen,
LL Cool J,
Matthew Halsall,
Quantec,
Flipper,
The Move,
The Residents,
Make Up,
Heaven 17,
The Black Dice,
Pussy Galore,
Tim Buckley,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Connie Case,
Pagans,
Gabor Szabo,
Skaos,
The Sound,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bill Near,
Al Stewart,
DNA,
L. Decosne,
Sight & Sound,
Circle Jerks,
Unwound,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Bronski Beat,
Fugazi,
Peter & Gordon,
Malaria!,
Black Pus,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Iggy Pop,
Black Sheep,
Hashim,
Bill Wells,
Audionom,
Lakeside,
Ten City,
The Alarm Clocks,
Suicide,
Byron Stingily,
The Fuzztones,
Mantronix,
the Sonics,
Gang Starr,
Newcleus,
Can,
Black Moon,
X-102,
Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel.
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.