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 Kiribati and from Houston.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All Lafayette Afro Rock Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Martian 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro 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 theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cure,
Gil Scott Heron,
Barry Ungar,
The Blues Magoos,
Popol Vuh,
Matthew Bourne,
Sarah Menescal,
ABC,
Dave Gahan,
Von Mondo,
Rosa Yemen,
Maleditus Sound,
Buzzcocks,
The Human League,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Grass Roots,
Patti Smith,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Derrick May,
the Slits,
Wally Richardson,
Pole,
Porter Ricks,
Cluster,
Ultimate Spinach,
Qualms,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Soft Cell,
Organ,
Groovy Waters,
David McCallum,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Saccharine Trust,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Kerri Chandler,
Man Parrish,
Pulsallama,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Vogues,
Dennis Brown,
Sam Rivers,
Tommy Roe,
kango's stein massive,
Aaron Thompson,
Amon Düül II,
Niagra,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Seeds,
Robert Hood,
Gang Gang Dance,
Arab on Radar,
Ludus,
The Barracudas,
Nirvana,
Television,
Reuben Wilson,
Trumans Water,
Peter & Gordon,
Darondo,
Soulsonic Force,
Crime, Crime, Crime, Crime.
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.