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 Micronesia and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Radiohead. All the underground hits.
All Royal Trux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Royal Trux 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a linndrum 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 a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roger Hodgson,
Lungfish,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Depeche Mode,
Drexciya,
The Golliwogs,
Hoover,
Tubeway Army,
Quadrant,
Cameo,
the Fania All-Stars,
Ralphi Rosario,
One Last Wish,
The Fugs,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Jeff Lynne,
Ludus,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Magma,
The Red Krayola,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Basic Channel,
Soul Sonic Force,
New Age Steppers,
Marc Almond,
Ituana,
Minutemen,
Saccharine Trust,
Scott Walker,
Crispian St. Peters,
Al Stewart,
Y Pants,
Terry Callier,
Schoolly D,
Ronan,
The Tremeloes,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Fuzztones,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Make Up,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Davy DMX,
In Retrospect,
The Five Americans,
Delon & Dalcan,
Outsiders,
The New Christs,
This Heat,
The Pretty Things,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Spandau Ballet,
Bang On A Can,
The Fall,
Lindisfarne,
Aloha Tigers,
Slave,
Dawn Penn,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Moebius,
Sandy B,
New Order,
The Birthday Party,
Joensuu 1685, Joensuu 1685, Joensuu 1685, Joensuu 1685.
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.