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 Mauritius and from Woodstock.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the organ 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 Eve St. Jones to the disco 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 Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud. All the underground hits.
All Be Bop Deluxe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Dolphy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 mellotron and a sitar 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 synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
The New Christs,
Half Japanese,
Jacques Brel,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Gun Club,
The Selecter,
Black Bananas,
Scientists,
Dennis Brown,
The Last Poets,
Kerrie Biddell,
Bobby Sherman,
Thee Headcoats,
Black Pus,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Flash Fearless,
Magazine,
Moebius,
Simply Red,
New York Dolls,
Au Pairs,
Bang On A Can,
New Age Steppers,
Drive Like Jehu,
Masters at Work,
Iggy Pop,
Little Man,
Lucky Dragons,
Amon Düül II,
L. Decosne,
John Coltrane,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Charles Mingus,
T.S.O.L.,
Cameo,
Ken Boothe,
Avey Tare,
Loose Ends,
Eric Copeland,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Fire Engines,
Bob Dylan,
Marcia Griffiths,
Pulsallama,
Al Stewart,
Derrick May,
Rod Modell,
Ponytail,
Groovy Waters,
Neil Young,
Danielle Patucci,
Lalann,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Nils Olav,
The Leaves,
The Knickerbockers,
Minor Threat,
Jimmy McGriff,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton.
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.