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 Sierra Leone and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Public Enemy to the crunk 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 The Smiths. All the underground hits.
All Skaos tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shoche record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a harpsichord 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 harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joensuu 1685,
Saccharine Trust,
Spoonie Gee,
David Bowie,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Crash Course in Science,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Victims,
Lakeside,
Joe Finger,
Delta 5,
Yazoo,
Leonard Cohen,
Glenn Branca,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Fad Gadget,
The Angels of Light,
Ronnie Foster,
Yaz,
Kas Product,
CMW,
Marshall Jefferson,
Junior Murvin,
Heaven 17,
A Certain Ratio,
Loose Ends,
Echospace,
Bronski Beat,
Barry Ungar,
Stockholm Monsters,
Johnny Osbourne,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Trojans,
8 Eyed Spy,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Vogues,
Stiv Bators,
Kool Moe Dee,
Neil Young,
Ludus,
LL Cool J,
These Immortal Souls,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Real Kids,
Pierre Henry,
Nik Kershaw,
David Axelrod,
Janne Schatter,
Royal Trux,
Donald Byrd,
Outsiders,
Scott Walker,
Cheater Slicks,
Audionom,
Rhythm & Sound,
Spandau Ballet,
Sound Behaviour,
Josef K,
The American Breed,
June of 44, June of 44, June of 44, June of 44.
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.