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 Romania and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 guitar 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 Ludus to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Wake. All the underground hits.
All Heaven 17 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ken Boothe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin 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 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Be Bop Deluxe,
Nirvana,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Sound,
Babytalk,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
JFA,
Eli Mardock,
In Retrospect,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Thee Headcoats,
Minnie Riperton,
Scan 7,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Ronan,
Visage,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
A Certain Ratio,
Alice Coltrane,
Alison Limerick,
Ultra Naté,
Guru Guru,
Urselle,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Wolf Eyes,
Icehouse,
Laurel Aitken,
Excepter,
Hardrive,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Searchers,
Dawn Penn,
Gabor Szabo,
Gang Green,
Jawbox,
Minutemen,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Divine Comedy,
Marmalade,
Slave,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Brick,
Radiopuhelimet,
Archie Shepp,
Y Pants,
The Cure,
Suburban Knight,
Television Personalities,
Connie Case,
Colin Newman,
OOIOO,
Eve St. Jones,
Zero Boys,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Boredoms,
Rufus Thomas,
Sun City Girls,
Goldenarms,
Clear Light,
Outsiders,
The Music Machine,
Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese.
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.