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 Nepal and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Gang Gang Dance to the punk 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 Louis and Bebe Barron. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The United States of America record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Machine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Q65,
Peter & Gordon,
The Raincoats,
H. Thieme,
Scrapy,
Los Fastidios,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Kayak,
X-Ray Spex,
Procol Harum,
Black Flag,
One Last Wish,
Sun City Girls,
Avey Tare,
The Litter,
the Human League,
The Velvet Underground,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Babytalk,
The Fugs,
Popol Vuh,
Rakim,
Rotary Connection,
Connie Case,
Skriet,
Yazoo,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Detroit Cobras,
Brand Nubian,
the Soft Cell,
Das Ding,
48th St. Collective,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Drive Like Jehu,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Monolake,
Dead Boys,
The Victims,
X-101,
Grey Daturas,
Man Eating Sloth,
Kevin Saunderson,
X-102,
Anakelly,
The Angels of Light,
Make Up,
Guru Guru,
Sällskapet,
Unrelated Segments,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Stockholm Monsters,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Roxette,
The Monks,
David McCallum,
Whodini,
Zapp,
Robert Wyatt,
the Germs,
Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox.
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.