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 Norway and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 John Lydon to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Marvin Gaye. All the underground hits.
All Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pere Ubu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe 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 synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scan 7,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Tim Buckley,
Brothers Johnson,
Sound Behaviour,
Fela Kuti,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
B.T. Express,
Motorama,
Y Pants,
Kayak,
Panda Bear,
the Sonics,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Velvet Underground,
Bizarre Inc.,
L. Decosne,
Dorothy Ashby,
Robert Hood,
Sparks,
Quando Quango,
Pulsallama,
Grauzone,
Anthony Braxton,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Pylon,
New Age Steppers,
Whodini,
Ituana,
The Dave Clark Five,
Gichy Dan,
Visage,
U.S. Maple,
Amon Düül,
Mars,
Masters at Work,
the Fania All-Stars,
Stiv Bators,
Susan Cadogan,
Suicide,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
UT,
Smog,
The Techniques,
Sonic Youth,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Invisible,
Oblivians,
Ohio Players,
Albert Ayler,
Rod Modell,
Von Mondo,
The Toasters,
The Gladiators,
Jacob Miller,
Desert Stars,
John Holt,
Al Stewart,
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
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.