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 Kyrgyzstan and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the organ 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 the Human League to the grunge 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 Erasure. All the underground hits.
All Heavy D & The Boyz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The New Christs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 mellotron and a snare 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 snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Amazonics,
Heaven 17,
Lebanon Hanover,
Half Japanese,
Sandy B,
R.M.O.,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Scion,
U.S. Maple,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
the Sonics,
A Certain Ratio,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Banda Bassotti,
kango's stein massive,
The Count Five,
Mission of Burma,
Toni Rubio,
Deepchord,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Gregory Isaacs,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Jacob Miller,
Massinfluence,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Peter & Gordon,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Goldenarms,
Ultimate Spinach,
MDC,
Spandau Ballet,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Cluster,
China Crisis,
The Monks,
The Slits,
Marmalade,
Index,
Rhythm & Sound,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Yusef Lateef,
Bill Near,
Panda Bear,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Altered Images,
The Moleskins,
Liliput,
Reagan Youth,
The Dave Clark Five,
Curtis Mayfield,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Alice Coltrane,
Radiopuhelimet,
Blossom Toes,
Model 500,
Echospace,
Inner City,
Hoover,
Sällskapet,
Bronski Beat,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.