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 Nigeria and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Gories to the funk 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 Sam Rivers. All the underground hits.
All Minor Threat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kango’s Stein Massive record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a rhodes 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 organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dawn Penn,
Colin Newman,
Dorothy Ashby,
OOIOO,
Siglo XX,
Scratch Acid,
Davy DMX,
B.T. Express,
Depeche Mode,
New York Dolls,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Aaron Thompson,
The Detroit Cobras,
Nas,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Massinfluence,
Pet Shop Boys,
Bootsy Collins,
The Residents,
Khruangbin,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Connie Case,
Organ,
Camberwell Now,
Sonic Youth,
Janne Schatter,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Jacques Brel,
Scott Walker,
Brothers Johnson,
Lower 48,
Susan Cadogan,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Fugazi,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Dave Gahan,
Bang On A Can,
Funky Four + One,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Barbara Tucker,
EPMD,
Grauzone,
Guru Guru,
Bobby Byrd,
The Raincoats,
Y Pants,
Little Man,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Joey Negro,
Althea and Donna,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
AZ,
X-Ray Spex,
The Birthday Party,
Josef K,
The Count Five,
Ultimate Spinach,
Avey Tare,
Reagan Youth,
Quadrant,
Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads.
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.