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 South Africa and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Bootsy Collins to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Ken Boothe. All the underground hits.
All The New Christs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sister Nancy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tres Demented,
Heaven 17,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
A Certain Ratio,
Matthew Halsall,
Lakeside,
The Barracudas,
Eurythmics,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Siglo XX,
Sex Pistols,
the Slits,
Lou Christie,
Mo-Dettes,
Isaac Hayes,
Roger Hodgson,
ABC,
The Searchers,
Vainqueur,
Derrick May,
Rhythm & Sound,
Brothers Johnson,
Camberwell Now,
Can,
The Move,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Public Enemy,
Bizarre Inc.,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sexual Harrassment,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Roxy Music,
Soul Sonic Force,
Yazoo,
Marmalade,
Tears for Fears,
Erasure,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Q65,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Q and Not U,
Bobby Byrd,
Barrington Levy,
Angry Samoans,
Sällskapet,
Flash Fearless,
Todd Terry,
The Pop Group,
Blossom Toes,
Letta Mbulu,
Nas,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Doors,
Gabor Szabo,
Babytalk,
Infiniti,
Neu!,
Anthony Braxton,
Darondo,
Kerrie Biddell,
Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army.
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.