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 Malta and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Mojo Men to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Echospace tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Can record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Michelle Simonal,
Duran Duran,
Kurtis Blow,
Robert Hood,
Agent Orange,
Circle Jerks,
the Fania All-Stars,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sonic Youth,
Sun Ra,
Byron Stingily,
Radio Birdman,
The Red Krayola,
Jeff Mills,
The Moody Blues,
Matthew Bourne,
David Bowie,
Spoonie Gee,
Wings,
DNA,
Outsiders,
Bootsy Collins,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Marmalade,
the Germs,
Electric Prunes,
Amon Düül II,
the Swans,
Vainqueur,
Newcleus,
Toni Rubio,
Cymande,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Sonics,
Gabor Szabo,
Reagan Youth,
Fluxion,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Idris Muhammad,
Angry Samoans,
The Buckinghams,
Ken Boothe,
Bauhaus,
John Lydon,
Suicide,
Jacques Brel,
The Vogues,
OOIOO,
Youth Brigade,
The Misunderstood,
Soft Machine,
Iggy Pop,
Guru Guru,
Bobby Byrd,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Boz Scaggs,
Section 25,
Underground Resistance,
KRS-One,
The Barracudas,
Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike.
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.