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 Ecuador and from Seoul.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Martian to the techno 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 Blake Baxter. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pulsallama record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 rhodes and a theremin 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 oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
It's A Beautiful Day,
Flamin' Groovies,
T. Rex,
FM Einheit,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Electric Prunes,
The Shadows of Knight,
Nas,
Gichy Dan,
Sun City Girls,
Brass Construction,
Soft Machine,
Japan,
Gang Starr,
Eurythmics,
Crispy Ambulance,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
B.T. Express,
The American Breed,
Loose Ends,
The Saints,
Ralphi Rosario,
Ten City,
OOIOO,
Amon Düül,
Eric B and Rakim,
the Bar-Kays,
Marcia Griffiths,
Guru Guru,
Ronnie Foster,
The Zeros,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Q and Not U,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Cluster,
Easy Going,
8 Eyed Spy,
Rhythm & Sound,
Cecil Taylor,
Bobby Womack,
Arcadia,
Moby Grape,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Y Pants,
Jacques Brel,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Jeff Mills,
The Knickerbockers,
Second Layer,
Derrick May,
Janne Schatter,
Sam Rivers,
Sister Nancy,
Dave Gahan,
The Doors,
Bauhaus,
The Young Rascals,
Black Flag,
Alton Ellis,
Ituana,
Lyres,
Can,
Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms.
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.