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 Nepal and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba 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 Y Pants to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gastr Del Sol. All the underground hits.
All Freddie Wadling tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Peanut Butter Conspiracy 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a clarinet 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 snare and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Ponytail,
Kool Moe Dee,
the Sonics,
Tommy Roe,
Eurythmics,
Wolf Eyes,
the Normal,
The United States of America,
Marmalade,
Hardrive,
Average White Band,
Altered Images,
Idris Muhammad,
Pantytec,
Bang On A Can,
Swell Maps,
Fatback Band,
Brass Construction,
Suicide,
Deepchord,
The Red Krayola,
cv313,
Basic Channel,
Suburban Knight,
Yusef Lateef,
Tubeway Army,
These Immortal Souls,
The Human League,
Jandek,
Pylon,
Minnie Riperton,
EPMD,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
John Cale,
Schoolly D,
Gong,
Junior Murvin,
Dennis Brown,
Nico,
The Kinks,
The Litter,
Ituana,
Dead Boys,
Index,
E-Dancer,
David Bowie,
Blake Baxter,
Amon Düül II,
Peter & Gordon,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Deadbeat,
Mantronix,
Quadrant,
Nirvana,
Arab on Radar,
Colin Newman,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Jimmy McGriff,
Judy Mowatt,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Alarm Clocks,
Television, Television, Television, Television.
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.