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 Venezuela and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Wings to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Boz Scaggs. All the underground hits.
All Quadrant tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Coltrane record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 linndrum and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Near record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Byron Stingily,
Freddie Wadling,
Jawbox,
Los Fastidios,
The Divine Comedy,
Quadrant,
Mars,
MC5,
In Retrospect,
Soul Sonic Force,
Ludus,
Black Flag,
OOIOO,
The Index,
John Coltrane,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Scrapy,
Thompson Twins,
Visage,
Gregory Isaacs,
Sonny Sharrock,
Mantronix,
The Human League,
The Fuzztones,
the Slits,
Eli Mardock,
Gang of Four,
Fat Boys,
Lebanon Hanover,
Television,
The Doors,
Ken Boothe,
Patti Smith,
Frankie Knuckles,
Rakim,
Bad Manners,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Maurizio,
Jacob Miller,
Traffic Nightmare,
Lyres,
New Order,
Fela Kuti,
Cameo,
The Knickerbockers,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Glambeats Corp.,
Joe Finger,
Echospace,
The Associates,
Marine Girls,
Arcadia,
Stockholm Monsters,
Connie Case,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sexual Harrassment,
Gabor Szabo,
Cluster,
UT,
Scion, Scion, Scion, Scion.
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.