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 Bangladesh and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Davy DMX to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Junior Murvin. All the underground hits.
All Suicide tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Byron Stingily record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 an oboe and a snare 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 chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boogie Down Productions,
Massinfluence,
The Evens,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Faust,
Radiohead,
Josef K,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Neon Judgement,
Fatback Band,
the Soft Cell,
London Community Gospel Choir,
KRS-One,
Brick,
Sun Ra,
Toni Rubio,
The Busters,
Oblivians,
Bang On A Can,
Iggy Pop,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Colin Newman,
Mantronix,
Monks,
Erasure,
Heaven 17,
Lakeside,
Stereo Dub,
Isaac Hayes,
T.S.O.L.,
Eric Dolphy,
Ohio Players,
Pole,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Negative Approach,
The Modern Lovers,
The Skatalites,
Marcia Griffiths,
EPMD,
Bobby Byrd,
Amon Düül,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Kool Moe Dee,
Newcleus,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Godley & Creme,
Theoretical Girls,
Johnny Osbourne,
Maurizio,
Bush Tetras,
Gang Green,
Charles Mingus,
Judy Mowatt,
David Axelrod,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Joe Smooth,
Skaos,
UT, UT, UT, UT.
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.