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 Palau and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Slits to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Subhumans. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Shadows of Knight 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
Chris & Cosey,
Jawbox,
Junior Murvin,
Can,
Eric Copeland,
The Pop Group,
Bootsy Collins,
Gong,
Bobby Womack,
T. Rex,
Sexual Harrassment,
Rekid,
Wings,
The American Breed,
The Leaves,
A Certain Ratio,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Thee Headcoats,
The Five Americans,
X-Ray Spex,
Half Japanese,
The Cure,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Accadde A,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Mandrill,
Sister Nancy,
Oneida,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Moebius,
Hasil Adkins,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Icehouse,
Charles Mingus,
Kenny Larkin,
Yusef Lateef,
Rotary Connection,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lee Hazlewood,
Lou Reed,
Tim Buckley,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Names,
Groovy Waters,
Wolf Eyes,
Marvin Gaye,
Skarface,
The Pretty Things,
Marc Almond,
Jesper Dahlback,
Matthew Halsall,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Rosa Yemen,
Dennis Brown,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Gories,
China Crisis,
Agitation Free,
Fatback Band,
Johnny Osbourne,
Nico, Nico, Nico, Nico.
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.