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 Bahamas and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Anthony Braxton to the dance 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 Nation of Ulysses. All the underground hits.
All Sad Lovers and Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bronski Beat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 linndrum 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 marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Magma,
Deepchord,
Unrelated Segments,
Wolf Eyes,
Ituana,
Cameo,
The Gap Band,
Pantytec,
Groovy Waters,
the Soft Cell,
Infiniti,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Sound Behaviour,
Donald Byrd,
Colin Newman,
Warren Ellis,
Gil Scott Heron,
Joyce Sims,
the Sonics,
Sandy B,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Nation of Ulysses,
Matthew Halsall,
Wally Richardson,
Isaac Hayes,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Newcleus,
Clear Light,
Mad Mike,
DNA,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Inner City,
Grandmaster Flash,
Black Bananas,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Adolescents,
Interpol,
Audionom,
Black Sheep,
Al Stewart,
Robert Hood,
Wasted Youth,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Eli Mardock,
Dual Sessions,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Smoke,
Monks,
Mary Jane Girls,
X-Ray Spex,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Flash Fearless,
The Knickerbockers,
The Offenders,
Ornette Coleman,
Oblivians,
The Mojo Men,
Moebius,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.