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 Botswana and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the organ 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 The Gories to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Bang On A Can. All the underground hits.
All Lonnie Liston Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pet Shop Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stockholm Monsters,
Oblivians,
Soulsonic Force,
Can,
The Move,
Youth Brigade,
Charles Mingus,
Faraquet,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Motions,
Rosa Yemen,
Echospace,
Brothers Johnson,
Skaos,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Leaves,
Reuben Wilson,
The Human League,
One Last Wish,
The Golliwogs,
Con Funk Shun,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Grass Roots,
Juan Atkins,
Hasil Adkins,
The Dead C,
Crash Course in Science,
Barclay James Harvest,
Morten Harket,
Vladislav Delay,
Stetsasonic,
Visage,
the Bar-Kays,
L. Decosne,
Quando Quango,
Ten City,
The J.B.'s,
Half Japanese,
Zapp,
Gichy Dan,
Lindisfarne,
the Swans,
Johnny Clarke,
Rod Modell,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Dave Gahan,
Gabor Szabo,
a-ha,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Last Poets,
Scion,
Thee Headcoats,
Infiniti,
Nirvana,
Mars,
Moby Grape,
K-Klass,
The Smoke,
Amazonics,
Bizarre Inc.,
In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect.
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.