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 Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Men They Couldn't Hang to the jazz 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 Bang On A Can. All the underground hits.
All June of 44 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fortunes 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Talk Talk,
Sexual Harrassment,
Amazonics,
The Last Poets,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Danielle Patucci,
Don Cherry,
The Trojans,
Idris Muhammad,
Camberwell Now,
James White and The Blacks,
The Real Kids,
Interpol,
Joey Negro,
the Germs,
Scott Walker,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Silicon Teens,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Nick Fraelich,
Aloha Tigers,
T. Rex,
Michelle Simonal,
The Sound,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Negative Approach,
Thompson Twins,
Wasted Youth,
Agitation Free,
The Mojo Men,
Kas Product,
ABBA,
Roxy Music,
Ohio Players,
Eve St. Jones,
The Birthday Party,
Carl Craig,
The Kinks,
Easy Going,
Boz Scaggs,
Black Flag,
Fatback Band,
UT,
Albert Ayler,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Eric B and Rakim,
Warsaw,
Delta 5,
David McCallum,
The Velvet Underground,
Barbara Tucker,
The Raincoats,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Mars,
Swell Maps,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Zapp,
New Order,
Aaron Thompson,
The Barracudas,
Echospace, Echospace, Echospace, Echospace.
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.