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 Japan and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
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 KRS-One to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Larry & the Blue Notes. All the underground hits.
All Sex Pistols tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fluxion 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare 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 chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gastr Del Sol,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Mary Jane Girls,
Moebius,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Marmalade,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Lyres,
Crime,
Bobby Byrd,
Young Marble Giants,
The Searchers,
Robert Görl,
Tears for Fears,
Groovy Waters,
Underground Resistance,
Urselle,
Faust,
John Coltrane,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Ronnie Foster,
The Golliwogs,
Chrome,
Blake Baxter,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Soulsonic Force,
Harry Pussy,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Bluetip,
Kenny Larkin,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Joe Finger,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Motions,
Albert Ayler,
EPMD,
Big Daddy Kane,
Howard Jones,
Tropical Tobacco,
Loose Ends,
Neil Young,
The Vogues,
The Gories,
Little Man,
Marvin Gaye,
Accadde A,
Index,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lou Reed,
Jacques Brel,
Swans,
Arab on Radar,
Aural Exciters,
David Axelrod,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Visage,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
MC5,
New Order,
Cybotron,
John Holt, John Holt, John Holt, John Holt.
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.