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 Gambia and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Accra.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Lakeside to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Eve St. Jones. All the underground hits.
All The Fall tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 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 rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Motions,
Cheater Slicks,
The Human League,
Subhumans,
The Doobie Brothers,
Radiohead,
The Sonics,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Pharoah Sanders,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Danielle Patucci,
Susan Cadogan,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Morten Harket,
Moby Grape,
Little Man,
T.S.O.L.,
Piero Umiliani,
Man Eating Sloth,
Tears for Fears,
Camouflage,
Gastr Del Sol,
Arthur Verocai,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
ABBA,
Lindisfarne,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Rosa Yemen,
Loose Ends,
Frankie Knuckles,
Darondo,
Howard Jones,
Colin Newman,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
the Germs,
The Doors,
Theoretical Girls,
The Cramps,
Bush Tetras,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Gang Starr,
The Litter,
Soft Cell,
the Normal,
Clear Light,
Ultra Naté,
Nick Fraelich,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Sound,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Leonard Cohen,
Infiniti,
Con Funk Shun,
Negative Approach,
Minor Threat,
Chris & Cosey,
Davy DMX,
X-101,
La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf.
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.