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 Iraq and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lagos.
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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Sonics to the punk 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 The Gap Band. All the underground hits.
All Eden Ahbez tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deadbeat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a sitar 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 harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Monks,
H. Thieme,
Bush Tetras,
The Cramps,
David Bowie,
Warren Ellis,
Delta 5,
Crash Course in Science,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Charles Mingus,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Gap Band,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Altered Images,
Visage,
The Dirtbombs,
Liliput,
Funkadelic,
Flamin' Groovies,
Dorothy Ashby,
Goldenarms,
Godley & Creme,
D'Angelo,
The Count Five,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Agitation Free,
Fat Boys,
Deepchord,
Electric Prunes,
Morten Harket,
The Techniques,
Rhythm & Sound,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Vainqueur,
Crooked Eye,
Funky Four + One,
U.S. Maple,
The Red Krayola,
The Dave Clark Five,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Glambeats Corp.,
Aaron Thompson,
Crispy Ambulance,
Suicide,
The Grass Roots,
The Flesh Eaters,
In Retrospect,
DJ Style,
Royal Trux,
Negative Approach,
Wings,
Jerry's Kids,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Groovy Waters,
Mo-Dettes,
X-102,
Radio Birdman,
Eric Dolphy,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson.
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.