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 Macedonia and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Sao Paulo.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the jazz 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 The Cure. All the underground hits.
All Franke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Evens record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer 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 clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Peter & Gordon,
Harpers Bizarre,
Severed Heads,
Patti Smith,
The Sonics,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Pussy Galore,
Black Pus,
Ronan,
Warren Ellis,
Black Sheep,
The Seeds,
Bauhaus,
Wasted Youth,
The Gladiators,
Heaven 17,
Eric Dolphy,
Circle Jerks,
Peter and Kerry,
Reagan Youth,
Subhumans,
Monks,
Sandy B,
Faraquet,
The Zeros,
Dark Day,
Agent Orange,
The Dave Clark Five,
Glenn Branca,
Mars,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Reuben Wilson,
Eve St. Jones,
Henry Cow,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Derrick May,
ABC,
Electric Prunes,
Dorothy Ashby,
the Human League,
The Cure,
Skriet,
Rotary Connection,
Wally Richardson,
Blossom Toes,
Intrusion,
Todd Terry,
Roger Hodgson,
Thee Headcoats,
Flash Fearless,
Section 25,
Bang On A Can,
Unwound,
The Remains,
Tubeway Army,
Sugar Minott,
Deepchord,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
D'Angelo,
Gregory Isaacs, Gregory Isaacs, Gregory Isaacs, Gregory Isaacs.
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.