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 Swaziland and from Woodstock.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Fortunes to the funk 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 Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Radiohead tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ice-T record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 marimba and a güiro 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 marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Alison Limerick,
X-101,
Theoretical Girls,
Outsiders,
T. Rex,
Fluxion,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Jeff Mills,
Can,
Second Layer,
Lyres,
Depeche Mode,
The Fuzztones,
Todd Terry,
Ronan,
Faust,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Pharoah Sanders,
Young Marble Giants,
R.M.O.,
Ralphi Rosario,
Q65,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Dawn Penn,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Suicide,
Subhumans,
Heaven 17,
Icehouse,
Flash Fearless,
X-102,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Don Cherry,
Bad Manners,
Monolake,
Unrelated Segments,
The Doobie Brothers,
Rufus Thomas,
Technova,
the Swans,
Derrick May,
Davy DMX,
Underground Resistance,
Rakim,
Pere Ubu,
Mr. Review,
The Cramps,
LL Cool J,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Kenny Larkin,
John Cale,
The Raincoats,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Crispian St. Peters,
Erykah Badu,
Maurizio,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sight & Sound,
Gastr Del Sol,
Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red.
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.