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 Finland and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Hong Kong.
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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the güiro 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 Kerrie Biddell to the grime 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 The Red Krayola. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pierre Henry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a guitar 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 synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonny Sharrock,
Von Mondo,
Crispy Ambulance,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Byron Stingily,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Arab on Radar,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Eric Dolphy,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Black Flag,
a-ha,
Ken Boothe,
China Crisis,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Henry Cow,
Howard Jones,
The Skatalites,
The Neon Judgement,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Wake,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Man Eating Sloth,
Tropical Tobacco,
Donald Byrd,
Bizarre Inc.,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Danielle Patucci,
Boz Scaggs,
Radio Birdman,
Junior Murvin,
Khruangbin,
Slick Rick,
DJ Style,
the Slits,
Electric Prunes,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Gastr Del Sol,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Excepter,
Jeff Lynne,
Subhumans,
Crime,
Severed Heads,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Agent Orange,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Mummies,
EPMD,
Nick Fraelich,
The Knickerbockers,
Yellowson,
Adolescents,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Joe Finger,
Grandmaster Flash,
Hoover,
Boredoms,
The Divine Comedy,
Malaria!,
Negative Approach,
Sex Pistols,
Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis.
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.