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 Saudi Arabia and from Tokyo.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Arab on Radar to the punk 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 Joy Division. All the underground hits.
All Tommy Roe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slick Rick 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 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 güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joy Division,
Byron Stingily,
CMW,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
kango's stein massive,
Jandek,
Eric Dolphy,
Radiohead,
Mary Jane Girls,
Jawbox,
Prince Buster,
Nation of Ulysses,
Audionom,
KRS-One,
Unwound,
Sarah Menescal,
James White and The Blacks,
Half Japanese,
Darondo,
The Red Krayola,
Black Pus,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Shuggie Otis,
David McCallum,
Neu!,
Graham Central Station,
Tres Demented,
Amon Düül,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Yazoo,
the Slits,
Brand Nubian,
Shoche,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Arcadia,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Robert Hood,
Fluxion,
Pere Ubu,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Cal Tjader,
The Black Dice,
Oneida,
Guru Guru,
Sound Behaviour,
Minutemen,
Young Marble Giants,
Zero Boys,
Harry Pussy,
Junior Murvin,
Jeff Mills,
The Divine Comedy,
Liliput,
Marc Almond,
The Angels of Light,
Glenn Branca,
Lungfish,
Erykah Badu,
Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops.
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.