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 Djibouti 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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 T.S.O.L. to the grunge 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 Clear Light. All the underground hits.
All Gary Puckett & The Union Gap tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Henry Cow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a harpsichord 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 marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MC5,
Barbara Tucker,
JFA,
Niagra,
June of 44,
Terrestrial Tones,
Suicide,
Juan Atkins,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Fatback Band,
Harmonia,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Searchers,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Second Layer,
Blake Baxter,
Ohio Players,
Maurizio,
Lou Reed,
Cymande,
Jacques Brel,
Ice-T,
Audionom,
The Count Five,
Magma,
Ossler,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Shoche,
The Busters,
Aural Exciters,
Tubeway Army,
The Residents,
Moby Grape,
Severed Heads,
Bang On A Can,
Banda Bassotti,
The Sonics,
The Invisible,
Deepchord,
Fluxion,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Black Flag,
Tropical Tobacco,
Sugar Minott,
Chris & Cosey,
DNA,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Girls At Our Best!,
Thompson Twins,
Rekid,
Yusef Lateef,
Fat Boys,
The Beau Brummels,
Man Parrish,
Throbbing Gristle,
Zapp,
Patti Smith,
10cc,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Harry Pussy,
Pantytec, Pantytec, Pantytec, Pantytec.
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.