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 Somalia and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 Johannesburg and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
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 Von Mondo to the funk 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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ken Boothe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer 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 theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joy Division,
Ultravox,
Wally Richardson,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Dennis Brown,
kango's stein massive,
Wire,
Negative Approach,
New York Dolls,
Japan,
Bobbi Humphrey,
the Soft Cell,
Hashim,
Sight & Sound,
Bootsy Collins,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Todd Terry,
Gabor Szabo,
Country Teasers,
Joe Finger,
Excepter,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Skarface,
Los Fastidios,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Outsiders,
Man Eating Sloth,
Ludus,
Television Personalities,
Glenn Branca,
DNA,
The Slits,
Moebius,
Warren Ellis,
KRS-One,
Essential Logic,
DJ Sneak,
Malaria!,
Amon Düül II,
Roy Ayers,
Oblivians,
Barry Ungar,
The Saints,
The Modern Lovers,
Motorama,
Cybotron,
The United States of America,
The Gladiators,
The Offenders,
Radiohead,
Henry Cow,
Supertramp,
Arab on Radar,
The Mummies,
The Smiths,
R.M.O.,
Eve St. Jones,
Jandek,
Grauzone,
PIL,
Banda Bassotti,
Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy.
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.