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 Albania and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Manchester.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Quando Quango to the jazz 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 It's A Beautiful Day. All the underground hits.
All Bronski Beat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Talk Talk 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a clarinet 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 chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Amazonics,
Accadde A,
Goldenarms,
Charles Mingus,
Deakin,
Ken Boothe,
Saccharine Trust,
Soulsonic Force,
the Human League,
Moby Grape,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Camouflage,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Sex Pistols,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ultravox,
Ronan,
Godley & Creme,
Henry Cow,
Ralphi Rosario,
Erykah Badu,
ABC,
The Trojans,
Angry Samoans,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ornette Coleman,
Funky Four + One,
Organ,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Livin' Joy,
Pierre Henry,
X-102,
Marine Girls,
Harpers Bizarre,
Derrick Morgan,
Vladislav Delay,
Idris Muhammad,
The J.B.'s,
Gong,
Model 500,
OOIOO,
Depeche Mode,
Bad Manners,
Youth Brigade,
Skarface,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Gories,
Rotary Connection,
World's Most,
Slave,
Fort Wilson Riot,
the Normal,
The Cure,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
John Lydon,
Rufus Thomas,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.