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 Peru and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Delhi.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Gabor Szabo to the techno 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Janne Schatter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron 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 marimba and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Judy Mowatt,
Kool Moe Dee,
Gang Gang Dance,
Marshall Jefferson,
Yaz,
Ten City,
Anakelly,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
LL Cool J,
Jerry's Kids,
Theoretical Girls,
Soulsonic Force,
Fluxion,
Gang of Four,
Cybotron,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Charles Mingus,
Flash Fearless,
Average White Band,
Darondo,
MC5,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
T.S.O.L.,
Khruangbin,
Radio Birdman,
Royal Trux,
48th St. Collective,
La Düsseldorf,
Erykah Badu,
Magazine,
Black Flag,
Rapeman,
Connie Case,
Outsiders,
The Doobie Brothers,
X-Ray Spex,
Goldenarms,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Evens,
Half Japanese,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Morten Harket,
The Fuzztones,
Bootsy Collins,
Nils Olav,
The Five Americans,
Archie Shepp,
Man Parrish,
B.T. Express,
Soft Machine,
Negative Approach,
Donny Hathaway,
Television,
The Victims,
Tropical Tobacco,
Suicide,
Barclay James Harvest,
Talk Talk,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Barbara Tucker,
Kerrie Biddell,
Scratch Acid,
Index, Index, Index, Index.
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.