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 Mali and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 Accra and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Jerry's Kids to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Vogues. All the underground hits.
All Average White Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alice Coltrane record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 guitar and an arpeggiator 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 marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Zeros,
Byron Stingily,
The Slits,
UT,
The Cure,
Smog,
Altered Images,
Franke,
Mark Hollis,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Flash Fearless,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Dead C,
Rites of Spring,
Visage,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
KRS-One,
MDC,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Gang Green,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Eve St. Jones,
The Angels of Light,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Jacques Brel,
Gong,
Rapeman,
Stereo Dub,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Amon Düül II,
Jacob Miller,
Lungfish,
Bauhaus,
Prince Buster,
Gabor Szabo,
Ken Boothe,
One Last Wish,
Shuggie Otis,
The Stooges,
Magma,
a-ha,
Iggy Pop,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Gories,
Eddi Front,
The United States of America,
Make Up,
Grauzone,
Freddie Wadling,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Agent Orange,
The Young Rascals,
The Flesh Eaters,
Kaleidoscope,
Johnny Clarke,
The Star Department,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
James White and The Blacks,
the Swans,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Half Japanese,
Theoretical Girls,
Barbara Tucker,
JFA, JFA, JFA, JFA.
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.