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 Afghanistan and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 X-101. All the underground hits.
All Stetsasonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Motorama 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 '70s.
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 All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Flag,
Josef K,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Divine Comedy,
DJ Style,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Shadows of Knight,
Suicide,
Bad Manners,
Amon Düül,
The Fortunes,
Bill Wells,
Porter Ricks,
The Cramps,
Electric Prunes,
Metal Thangz,
Warsaw,
Roy Ayers,
Colin Newman,
AZ,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Gories,
Skriet,
The Young Rascals,
New Age Steppers,
The Neon Judgement,
Camberwell Now,
John Foxx,
The Dirtbombs,
Soul Sonic Force,
Marine Girls,
Matthew Halsall,
The Smiths,
The Wake,
Con Funk Shun,
the Bar-Kays,
Lou Reed,
Sam Rivers,
Rakim,
Leonard Cohen,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Jawbox,
Dorothy Ashby,
H. Thieme,
Bobby Sherman,
Ultravox,
Basic Channel,
Y Pants,
Howard Jones,
Warren Ellis,
X-102,
Rapeman,
Stockholm Monsters,
10cc,
Eden Ahbez,
Gong,
Pantaleimon,
Gabor Szabo,
Robert Wyatt,
Angry Samoans,
the Swans,
Mantronix,
Cheater Slicks,
Magma, Magma, Magma, Magma.
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.