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 Somalia and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in .
I was there at the first Suicide 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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Country Teasers to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Man Eating Sloth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barclay James Harvest record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron 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 synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mission of Burma,
ABC,
Camouflage,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sam Rivers,
Man Eating Sloth,
Zero Boys,
Fugazi,
Monks,
The Star Department,
Public Enemy,
The Saints,
Frankie Knuckles,
Ralphi Rosario,
Newcleus,
Ken Boothe,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Offenders,
The Music Machine,
Ponytail,
Lower 48,
The Invisible,
Soft Cell,
Matthew Halsall,
Grauzone,
ABBA,
Joe Smooth,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Selecter,
Suicide,
Metal Thangz,
Letta Mbulu,
Fat Boys,
Piero Umiliani,
Franke,
Schoolly D,
Kas Product,
Juan Atkins,
K-Klass,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Soul Sonic Force,
Hardrive,
Dual Sessions,
Television,
Joy Division,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Sound,
Youth Brigade,
Rekid,
Skarface,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Shadows of Knight,
KRS-One,
Minnie Riperton,
The Monks,
Echospace,
Laurel Aitken,
New York Dolls,
Sparks,
Curtis Mayfield,
Flash Fearless,
Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub.
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.