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 Brunei and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Fluxion to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 X-101. All the underground hits.
All the Bar-Kays tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes 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 clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dawn Penn,
Bush Tetras,
Ronan,
The Raincoats,
Donny Hathaway,
Faust,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Toasters,
Eric Copeland,
Country Teasers,
Essential Logic,
The Moleskins,
Godley & Creme,
Cheater Slicks,
Soul Sonic Force,
Arab on Radar,
New Order,
Wally Richardson,
Von Mondo,
Deepchord,
The Smiths,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Public Image Ltd.,
Joe Smooth,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rapeman,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Crime,
Supertramp,
The Detroit Cobras,
Stereo Dub,
Warsaw,
Grauzone,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sparks,
H. Thieme,
Main Source,
Stiv Bators,
Nils Olav,
Glenn Branca,
Au Pairs,
The Fire Engines,
Drive Like Jehu,
Rotary Connection,
Pantaleimon,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mad Mike,
Sugar Minott,
Half Japanese,
the Soft Cell,
Funky Four + One,
The Selecter,
Parry Music,
The Move,
Lungfish,
Jandek,
Marvin Gaye,
Swans,
The Vogues,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.