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 Switzerland 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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Lucky Dragons to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Judy Mowatt. All the underground hits.
All Magazine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pop Group record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a chamberlin 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 oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Byron Stingily,
Donald Byrd,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Todd Rundgren,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Mars,
Kool Moe Dee,
Negative Approach,
The Slackers,
Sun City Girls,
Mandrill,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Count Five,
Mary Jane Girls,
Spoonie Gee,
the Germs,
Ten City,
Public Enemy,
Aaron Thompson,
Fear,
Unrelated Segments,
Deakin,
Section 25,
Sexual Harrassment,
Japan,
The Monochrome Set,
Ornette Coleman,
Joy Division,
The Sound,
Scientists,
The Fall,
T.S.O.L.,
The Black Dice,
Country Teasers,
Donny Hathaway,
The Five Americans,
Dead Boys,
Loose Ends,
Kerri Chandler,
10cc,
John Foxx,
Bobby Byrd,
Barrington Levy,
Unwound,
Fat Boys,
Ken Boothe,
The Remains,
ABC,
Newcleus,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Motions,
Ludus,
Reagan Youth,
Eric B and Rakim,
Eddi Front,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Moody Blues,
Lucky Dragons,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
It's A Beautiful Day, It's A Beautiful Day, It's A Beautiful Day, It's A Beautiful Day.
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.