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 Macedonia and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 June Days to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Slave. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
UT,
Hoover,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Fugazi,
Interpol,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Invisible,
Lebanon Hanover,
Tears for Fears,
The Young Rascals,
Michelle Simonal,
Bizarre Inc.,
Roxy Music,
Donny Hathaway,
Alice Coltrane,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Star Department,
The Golliwogs,
Black Flag,
David McCallum,
Shuggie Otis,
Ten City,
John Lydon,
Little Man,
Loose Ends,
Whodini,
The Trojans,
Terry Callier,
Pole,
Pulsallama,
Quantec,
Kas Product,
Crooked Eye,
Camberwell Now,
Popol Vuh,
Isaac Hayes,
Unrelated Segments,
MDC,
Judy Mowatt,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Schoolly D,
Sight & Sound,
June Days,
Sister Nancy,
Jacques Brel,
Man Parrish,
Rotary Connection,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Monks,
Lalo Schifrin,
Surgeon,
the Germs,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Organ,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The United States of America,
Soulsonic Force,
Reuben Wilson,
Zero Boys,
Massinfluence,
The Fugs,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy.
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.