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 Kazakhstan and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Robert Wyatt to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Sun Ra Arkestra. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Saccharine Trust 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 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 All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Sheep,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Ludus,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Rod Modell,
Todd Rundgren,
Barbara Tucker,
The Beau Brummels,
Stiv Bators,
MC5,
The Offenders,
The Doobie Brothers,
Kerri Chandler,
The Raincoats,
Tomorrow,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Rufus Thomas,
Eli Mardock,
Fugazi,
Subhumans,
Kaleidoscope,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Slackers,
Jacob Miller,
The Neon Judgement,
The Zeros,
Royal Trux,
Duran Duran,
Yaz,
The Toasters,
Joyce Sims,
Bobby Sherman,
Warren Ellis,
Eric Copeland,
Young Marble Giants,
The Golliwogs,
This Heat,
The Fugs,
Soulsonic Force,
Joensuu 1685,
the Association,
Los Fastidios,
Byron Stingily,
The Monochrome Set,
Chris & Cosey,
Aswad,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Simply Red,
The New Christs,
Robert Görl,
Swans,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Juan Atkins,
Parry Music,
Animal Collective,
Crime,
Radiohead,
Glenn Branca,
The J.B.'s,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Moody Blues,
PIL, PIL, PIL, PIL.
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.