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 Russia and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and London.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band to the electroclash 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 The Fall. All the underground hits.
All Danielle Patucci tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Young Rascals 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb 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 theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David McCallum,
the Soft Cell,
John Cale,
Gang Gang Dance,
Newcleus,
Con Funk Shun,
Essential Logic,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Stereo Dub,
Franke,
Man Parrish,
Royal Trux,
Boredoms,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Crash Course in Science,
a-ha,
Massinfluence,
Hashim,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Crooked Eye,
Oneida,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Invisible,
The Electric Prunes,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Bootsy Collins,
Lyres,
Derrick May,
The Moody Blues,
Sound Behaviour,
The New Christs,
Average White Band,
Cluster,
Joey Negro,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Donald Byrd,
Leonard Cohen,
Harry Pussy,
Michelle Simonal,
The Tremeloes,
Matthew Bourne,
Saccharine Trust,
Model 500,
Magma,
New Order,
Roy Ayers,
Neu!,
Dual Sessions,
The Litter,
La Düsseldorf,
Surgeon,
The Slits,
Radiopuhelimet,
Darondo,
Reagan Youth,
The Doors,
Liliput,
Japan,
The Victims,
The Real Kids,
Ultra Naté,
Jandek,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.