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 Kenya and from Taipei.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 sitar 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 Deakin to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All Babytalk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can 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?
The Real Kids,
Pylon,
Symarip,
Blancmange,
Crooked Eye,
Lebanon Hanover,
Jandek,
Visage,
The Pretty Things,
John Coltrane,
Sparks,
The Star Department,
Eli Mardock,
Jacques Brel,
Man Parrish,
Liliput,
Donald Byrd,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Soft Cell,
Maleditus Sound,
Rakim,
Nirvana,
Boogie Down Productions,
Qualms,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Toasters,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Flash Fearless,
Altered Images,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Deakin,
Bluetip,
The Modern Lovers,
X-101,
Make Up,
The Fall,
The Cure,
The Dave Clark Five,
Kenny Larkin,
The Names,
Johnny Clarke,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Skatalites,
PIL,
Pole,
Von Mondo,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Oneida,
Barry Ungar,
Angry Samoans,
Peter and Kerry,
Quando Quango,
LL Cool J,
Anakelly,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Alphaville,
Max Romeo,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Smoke,
Panda Bear,
Blossom Toes,
The Invisible, The Invisible, The Invisible, The Invisible.
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.