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 Malta and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Man Eating Sloth to the dance 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 Kaleidoscope. All the underground hits.
All Fort Wilson Riot tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro 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 guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Altered Images,
Archie Shepp,
E-Dancer,
The Red Krayola,
This Heat,
Vainqueur,
Jandek,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Monks,
R.M.O.,
Big Daddy Kane,
Lyres,
Young Marble Giants,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
MDC,
The Cramps,
The Durutti Column,
Y Pants,
The Skatalites,
Fear,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Michelle Simonal,
Camberwell Now,
The Birthday Party,
Marine Girls,
Toni Rubio,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Terrestrial Tones,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Golliwogs,
Absolute Body Control,
Stetsasonic,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Model 500,
Nick Fraelich,
Tim Buckley,
DJ Style,
Jerry's Kids,
The Count Five,
Joe Finger,
Supertramp,
Glambeats Corp.,
Popol Vuh,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Shadows of Knight,
H. Thieme,
Suicide,
Moby Grape,
Howard Jones,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Metal Thangz,
Rufus Thomas,
Mad Mike,
Wally Richardson,
Hardrive,
The Beau Brummels,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.