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 Uruguay and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 harpsichord 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 Ken Boothe to the electroclash 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 Sunsets and Hearts. All the underground hits.
All Peter and Kerry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Babytalk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum 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 spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
R.M.O.,
Franke,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Godley & Creme,
Connie Case,
Arab on Radar,
Magma,
The Misunderstood,
Q and Not U,
Soft Machine,
Gang Starr,
The Cowsills,
Kevin Saunderson,
Byron Stingily,
Model 500,
The Blackbyrds,
MC5,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Smoke,
Eve St. Jones,
Gerry Rafferty,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Robert Wyatt,
Hot Snakes,
Radio Birdman,
Ponytail,
Animal Collective,
David McCallum,
Warren Ellis,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ice-T,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Absolute Body Control,
Pantytec,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Eric B and Rakim,
Minnie Riperton,
Amon Düül,
Eli Mardock,
Marmalade,
Drive Like Jehu,
Oblivians,
Clear Light,
The Dead C,
the Swans,
a-ha,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Deakin,
MDC,
Reagan Youth,
Smog,
Wolf Eyes,
The Mummies,
Ronan,
The Names,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Quantec,
Dawn Penn,
Ralphi Rosario,
June of 44,
Masters at Work,
The Sonics,
Bobby Byrd,
Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses.
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.