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 Peru and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Portland.
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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk to the grime 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 Amon Düül II. All the underground hits.
All Heaven 17 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Buckinghams record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a sitar 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 synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Gerry Rafferty,
B.T. Express,
Simply Red,
Surgeon,
Country Teasers,
T. Rex,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Bizarre Inc.,
Lucky Dragons,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Stooges,
The Birthday Party,
Anakelly,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Standells,
Bob Dylan,
Ultimate Spinach,
Bill Wells,
The Victims,
Derrick May,
Black Pus,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Cure,
Johnny Osbourne,
Silicon Teens,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Throbbing Gristle,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Skatalites,
Agitation Free,
Joensuu 1685,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sonny Sharrock,
Newcleus,
Grandmaster Flash,
Saccharine Trust,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Peter and Kerry,
These Immortal Souls,
Sun Ra,
Gang Gang Dance,
Cecil Taylor,
Little Man,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Ornette Coleman,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
John Holt,
Scan 7,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Anthony Braxton,
Crash Course in Science,
JFA,
The Barracudas,
Vladislav Delay,
Eric B and Rakim,
Circle Jerks,
Liliput,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Fugs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.