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 Cyprus and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin 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 Throbbing Gristle to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Iggy Pop. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a guitar 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 a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Five Americans,
Bad Manners,
Fela Kuti,
Joy Division,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Grauzone,
The Toasters,
Newcleus,
Wings,
The Leaves,
Susan Cadogan,
Althea and Donna,
Rufus Thomas,
Piero Umiliani,
The Doors,
Pylon,
Zero Boys,
Bill Near,
Das Ding,
Faraquet,
Goldenarms,
Khruangbin,
Sex Pistols,
The Selecter,
Sonny Sharrock,
Jacques Brel,
Agitation Free,
The Standells,
The Kinks,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Nik Kershaw,
Lungfish,
The Pop Group,
Quadrant,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Bob Dylan,
The Buckinghams,
Pierre Henry,
Index,
The Happenings,
The Moody Blues,
John Cale,
John Lydon,
The Count Five,
the Association,
Spoonie Gee,
Lyres,
Crash Course in Science,
Severed Heads,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Names,
Nico,
Derrick Morgan,
Black Pus,
Anthony Braxton,
Gastr Del Sol,
Johnny Osbourne,
Camouflage,
Unwound,
JFA,
Silicon Teens,
Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids.
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.