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 Uruguay and from Johannesburg.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 clarinet 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 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band to the jazz 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 Charles Mingus. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & Metallica tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Velvet Underground record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a rhodes 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 linndrum and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flash Fearless,
Cheater Slicks,
the Normal,
Andrew Hill,
Jerry's Kids,
Crash Course in Science,
Blancmange,
Darondo,
Rufus Thomas,
The Last Poets,
the Slits,
The Blackbyrds,
Charles Mingus,
Joyce Sims,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Lyres,
Kerri Chandler,
Ponytail,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Offenders,
Spoonie Gee,
OOIOO,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Kayak,
The American Breed,
Pagans,
Oblivians,
FM Einheit,
Shuggie Otis,
Ronnie Foster,
Section 25,
Soft Cell,
Soulsonic Force,
Q and Not U,
Liliput,
Matthew Halsall,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Michelle Simonal,
DJ Style,
Joe Smooth,
Al Stewart,
Panda Bear,
Outsiders,
David Axelrod,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Jeff Mills,
Peter & Gordon,
Pharoah Sanders,
Mr. Review,
Dennis Brown,
Sun Ra,
Excepter,
Lower 48,
The Sound,
Black Moon,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Monolake,
Intrusion,
The Remains,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Cameo, Cameo, Cameo, Cameo.
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.