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 Jamaica and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Blake Baxter to the rap 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 Selector Dub Narcotic. All the underground hits.
All Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Bananas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 snare 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 clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pet Shop Boys,
Howard Jones,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Modern Lovers,
Camouflage,
Mandrill,
Yaz,
Johnny Clarke,
Lou Reed,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Animal Collective,
Massinfluence,
B.T. Express,
Angry Samoans,
Jacques Brel,
Electric Prunes,
Be Bop Deluxe,
48th St. Collective,
Ultravox,
Agitation Free,
Jeff Mills,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Hot Snakes,
John Foxx,
The Monks,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Kaleidoscope,
Country Joe & The Fish,
X-102,
Quando Quango,
Pylon,
Warren Ellis,
Funky Four + One,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Birthday Party,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Stooges,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Bobby Byrd,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Jeff Lynne,
Cybotron,
Ken Boothe,
The Gladiators,
The Moody Blues,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Japan,
The Cramps,
Matthew Bourne,
ABC,
The Residents,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Negative Approach,
The Techniques,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Judy Mowatt,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.