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 Sudan and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Grauzone. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mission of Burma 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
The Selecter,
Davy DMX,
Mission of Burma,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Minor Threat,
The Techniques,
Silicon Teens,
The Doobie Brothers,
Loose Ends,
Swell Maps,
Depeche Mode,
Gang Starr,
Can,
Sarah Menescal,
Malaria!,
Agitation Free,
Babytalk,
Donald Byrd,
Dawn Penn,
Bronski Beat,
Sister Nancy,
Crooked Eye,
Little Man,
Cal Tjader,
Crispian St. Peters,
Eric Dolphy,
Altered Images,
Kayak,
Suburban Knight,
Oneida,
The Slackers,
The Fugs,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Count Five,
Joe Finger,
Desert Stars,
The Smoke,
The J.B.'s,
The Fire Engines,
Infiniti,
Chris Corsano,
Sound Behaviour,
Harmonia,
Ronan,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Tim Buckley,
Porter Ricks,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Oblivians,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Laurel Aitken,
Neu!,
The Gap Band,
Duran Duran,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gang Gang Dance,
Ponytail,
The Fuzztones,
The Barracudas,
The Remains, The Remains, The Remains, The Remains.
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.