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 Cameroon and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Thompson Twins to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Thompson Twins. All the underground hits.
All Hasil Adkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lakeside record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ 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 All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
a-ha,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Stiv Bators,
Rapeman,
Ludus,
Pere Ubu,
Johnny Clarke,
Delon & Dalcan,
A Certain Ratio,
Barclay James Harvest,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Man Eating Sloth,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ohio Players,
The Sonics,
Wolf Eyes,
Derrick Morgan,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Suicide,
Groovy Waters,
The Names,
The Birthday Party,
The Doors,
The Stooges,
Mark Hollis,
Scratch Acid,
the Normal,
Boz Scaggs,
JFA,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Soft Machine,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Silicon Teens,
Monolake,
John Coltrane,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Dead C,
Black Sheep,
Inner City,
The Star Department,
Lightning Bolt,
Rod Modell,
Rakim,
Infiniti,
Scott Walker,
New Age Steppers,
Bootsy Collins,
Pet Shop Boys,
Section 25,
Funky Four + One,
Whodini,
New York Dolls,
DJ Sneak,
Nick Fraelich,
Carl Craig,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ultra Naté,
The Dirtbombs,
Nirvana,
The Zeros,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.