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 Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Scrapy to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Sällskapet. All the underground hits.
All Bill Wells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-101 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ 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 a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kerri Chandler,
Gang Green,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Brass Construction,
The Slackers,
Accadde A,
The Smiths,
The Techniques,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Count Five,
Joy Division,
Das Ding,
Terry Callier,
Lakeside,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Metal Thangz,
Derrick May,
the Sonics,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Durutti Column,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Ohio Players,
Scan 7,
The Smoke,
Lower 48,
Wally Richardson,
Oneida,
The Skatalites,
Cecil Taylor,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Tubeway Army,
LL Cool J,
Moby Grape,
La Düsseldorf,
Alison Limerick,
The Pretty Things,
Trumans Water,
FM Einheit,
Brick,
U.S. Maple,
Fugazi,
Nirvana,
This Heat,
The Dave Clark Five,
Reagan Youth,
Qualms,
Index,
Kerrie Biddell,
Echospace,
Con Funk Shun,
Sällskapet,
The Seeds,
China Crisis,
Rapeman,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Gories,
Ken Boothe,
The Moleskins,
Soul II Soul,
Sight & Sound,
Vainqueur,
Sugar Minott,
Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader.
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.