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 Cuba and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Talk Talk to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Blues Magoos. All the underground hits.
All Erykah Badu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dawn Penn record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 a theremin and a spring reverb 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 linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
La Düsseldorf,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Big Daddy Kane,
Rekid,
Sun Ra,
Bronski Beat,
Warren Ellis,
Yellowson,
Livin' Joy,
48th St. Collective,
Judy Mowatt,
Barclay James Harvest,
Hashim,
Black Flag,
Mary Jane Girls,
Buzzcocks,
Lou Reed,
Eddi Front,
The Last Poets,
The Skatalites,
Amazonics,
Bang On A Can,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Excepter,
Bobby Byrd,
The Sound,
Ponytail,
the Germs,
Silicon Teens,
Jacob Miller,
Oneida,
cv313,
Dead Boys,
Brand Nubian,
Peter & Gordon,
Chrome,
The Dead C,
Sound Behaviour,
Siglo XX,
Shuggie Otis,
Archie Shepp,
The Tremeloes,
Girls At Our Best!,
Robert Wyatt,
Eric Dolphy,
the Soft Cell,
R.M.O.,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Bizarre Inc.,
Wasted Youth,
Soul Sonic Force,
Circle Jerks,
F. McDonald,
The Trojans,
the Swans,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Zero Boys,
The Remains,
The Electric Prunes,
The Gories,
Little Man,
Yaz,
Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead.
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.