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 Singapore and from Philadelphia.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Sao Paulo.
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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers to the crunk 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 Yellowson. All the underground hits.
All Barrington Levy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Throbbing Gristle 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ 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 All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ludus,
the Slits,
John Foxx,
Crime,
Dave Gahan,
The Busters,
Amon Düül II,
Soul II Soul,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
AZ,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
MDC,
The Slits,
Harpers Bizarre,
Television Personalities,
Glambeats Corp.,
Smog,
Section 25,
Ohio Players,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Matthew Bourne,
the Sonics,
OOIOO,
The Doors,
Nils Olav,
Audionom,
Sun City Girls,
Donald Byrd,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bush Tetras,
Robert Hood,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Leonard Cohen,
The Smiths,
Todd Terry,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Royal Trux,
Todd Rundgren,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bobby Womack,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Isaac Hayes,
8 Eyed Spy,
Adolescents,
The Birthday Party,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Aloha Tigers,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Marcia Griffiths,
Boz Scaggs,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Moody Blues,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Crooked Eye,
Rites of Spring,
Marvin Gaye,
Infiniti,
Goldenarms,
Niagra,
Colin Newman,
Make Up,
Mary Jane Girls,
Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti.
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.