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 Yemen and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Moss Icon to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Banda Bassotti. All the underground hits.
All The Gun Club tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Durutti Column,
The Gap Band,
Animal Collective,
Organ,
The Smiths,
Pulsallama,
Swans,
Curtis Mayfield,
Nirvana,
Khruangbin,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Max Romeo,
Inner City,
Rotary Connection,
Mantronix,
The Modern Lovers,
Erykah Badu,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Eddi Front,
Brothers Johnson,
Anakelly,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Bang On A Can,
Pussy Galore,
Connie Case,
Crispy Ambulance,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Hasil Adkins,
Kayak,
Fugazi,
The Pop Group,
The Gories,
Make Up,
Rufus Thomas,
This Heat,
Scratch Acid,
Parry Music,
Juan Atkins,
The Busters,
Bizarre Inc.,
Roxy Music,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Y Pants,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Kevin Saunderson,
Scan 7,
The Saints,
Eden Ahbez,
Negative Approach,
Sexual Harrassment,
Terry Callier,
Soul II Soul,
Unwound,
Second Layer,
Symarip,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Desert Stars, Desert Stars, Desert Stars, Desert Stars.
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.