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 Swaziland and from Tehran.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 rock 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 Unrelated Segments. All the underground hits.
All Radiohead tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin 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 mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Osbourne,
Nik Kershaw,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Spoonie Gee,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Maleditus Sound,
The Sonics,
Surgeon,
Inner City,
Jeff Mills,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Dead C,
L. Decosne,
Au Pairs,
Kevin Saunderson,
a-ha,
June Days,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Organ,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Lungfish,
Agitation Free,
Minny Pops,
Joensuu 1685,
Gastr Del Sol,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Laurel Aitken,
Gang Starr,
U.S. Maple,
The Count Five,
Simply Red,
Delon & Dalcan,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Kool Moe Dee,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Pylon,
Flash Fearless,
The Fall,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Robert Hood,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Stockholm Monsters,
Jawbox,
the Slits,
Thee Headcoats,
Scan 7,
Television,
Robert Wyatt,
Spandau Ballet,
Pierre Henry,
The Mummies,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Monochrome Set,
the Fania All-Stars,
Angry Samoans,
Loose Ends,
DJ Style,
Black Flag,
Andrew Hill,
The Monks,
Swans,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans.
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.