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 Lithuania and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in 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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the organ 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 Eurythmics to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Liaisons Dangereuses tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drexciya 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet 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 oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Jacob Miller,
Eric Dolphy,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Delon & Dalcan,
Al Stewart,
Jesper Dahlback,
Funkadelic,
The Doors,
Tubeway Army,
Ituana,
Delta 5,
Sarah Menescal,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Qualms,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Fatback Band,
Moebius,
The Star Department,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Blake Baxter,
Lalann,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Offenders,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Electric Prunes,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
This Heat,
Arthur Verocai,
Freddie Wadling,
DJ Style,
The Searchers,
kango's stein massive,
Vainqueur,
Byron Stingily,
Bootsy Collins,
E-Dancer,
The Count Five,
Aloha Tigers,
Gerry Rafferty,
Henry Cow,
Eden Ahbez,
Wally Richardson,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Rhythm & Sound,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gong,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Walker Brothers,
The Trojans,
Sixth Finger,
John Lydon,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
MDC,
Ludus,
OOIOO,
Sam Rivers,
Franke,
Max Romeo,
Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar.
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.