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 Slovenia and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in 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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Sao Paulo.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the marimba 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 Subhumans to the grunge 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 Youth Brigade. All the underground hits.
All Mr. Review tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Archie Shepp,
Reuben Wilson,
Rakim,
The Dead C,
The Invisible,
Flipper,
Tres Demented,
James White and The Blacks,
Althea and Donna,
Inner City,
Sarah Menescal,
Sound Behaviour,
Shoche,
Average White Band,
Camberwell Now,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Young Marble Giants,
The Golliwogs,
Amon Düül II,
Dark Day,
Sandy B,
Oneida,
Buzzcocks,
Black Flag,
The Dirtbombs,
Public Enemy,
Howard Jones,
Matthew Bourne,
The Blackbyrds,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Raincoats,
Skriet,
Jeff Lynne,
Mary Jane Girls,
Animal Collective,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Can,
Quando Quango,
Country Joe & The Fish,
New York Dolls,
Flamin' Groovies,
The J.B.'s,
the Swans,
Iggy Pop,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Gap Band,
Neu!,
Nirvana,
Quantec,
June Days,
The Five Americans,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Knickerbockers,
Glenn Branca,
The Slits,
Lungfish,
Heaven 17,
Marine Girls,
Groovy Waters,
Lou Reed,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.