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 Tajikistan and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 clarinet 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 David Axelrod to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Black Bananas. All the underground hits.
All Janne Schatter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fat Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar 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 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bronski Beat,
Michelle Simonal,
Yazoo,
James White and The Blacks,
Goldenarms,
Aloha Tigers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Charles Mingus,
Prince Buster,
Iggy Pop,
Pylon,
Crash Course in Science,
FM Einheit,
Dawn Penn,
Yellowson,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Gories,
Todd Terry,
Rakim,
Minnie Riperton,
Icehouse,
Excepter,
The Motions,
The Divine Comedy,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Gap Band,
The Pretty Things,
Slick Rick,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Urselle,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Das Ding,
Eden Ahbez,
Sugar Minott,
Terry Callier,
Depeche Mode,
The Techniques,
Alton Ellis,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Joyce Sims,
Cal Tjader,
MDC,
Howard Jones,
Echospace,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Can,
Royal Trux,
James Chance & The Contortions,
UT,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Sandy B,
Index,
Cluster,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Arthur Verocai,
Grey Daturas,
Harpers Bizarre,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Danielle Patucci,
Hasil Adkins,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.