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 Mongolia and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 The Toasters to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Intrusion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every F. McDonald record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an arpeggiator 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 marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Joey Negro,
Kurtis Blow,
The Sonics,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Birthday Party,
Fugazi,
Scott Walker,
Bootsy Collins,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Japan,
Procol Harum,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Seeds,
Erasure,
Slick Rick,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Moss Icon,
Marshall Jefferson,
Angry Samoans,
Bobby Womack,
Malaria!,
Minnie Riperton,
Gang Gang Dance,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Sarah Menescal,
Little Man,
The Neon Judgement,
Pantytec,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Vladislav Delay,
Roxy Music,
Radiohead,
Bronski Beat,
Suicide,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Scientists,
Byron Stingily,
Goldenarms,
Lee Hazlewood,
Barry Ungar,
the Soft Cell,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Sandy B,
Dead Boys,
Kas Product,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Toasters,
Anakelly,
Steve Hackett,
Laurel Aitken,
Idris Muhammad,
Alton Ellis,
Alison Limerick,
Easy Going,
Aswad,
Q and Not U,
Depeche Mode,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.