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 Tonga and from Bremen.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Monolake to the rap 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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All Wire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bizarre Inc. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a chamberlin 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 mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
New York Dolls,
Los Fastidios,
10cc,
Scratch Acid,
Warsaw,
Robert Hood,
Pole,
Ten City,
Public Enemy,
Heaven 17,
Tommy Roe,
The Smoke,
Unwound,
Television Personalities,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Gil Scott Heron,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Magma,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bluetip,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Five Americans,
Matthew Halsall,
The Residents,
The Misunderstood,
The Kinks,
Slick Rick,
Pylon,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Chris & Cosey,
Rites of Spring,
Derrick Morgan,
In Retrospect,
Popol Vuh,
Quantec,
Johnny Osbourne,
Camouflage,
Wasted Youth,
Underground Resistance,
Niagra,
The Detroit Cobras,
Bob Dylan,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Essential Logic,
Sarah Menescal,
Eric B and Rakim,
Mary Jane Girls,
Subhumans,
Faraquet,
Johnny Clarke,
Grauzone,
Peter & Gordon,
Joyce Sims,
Icehouse,
Angry Samoans,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers.
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.