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 Tonga and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Shanghai.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 The Stooges to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Moss Icon. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rod Modell 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron 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 mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Eden Ahbez,
John Lydon,
Jimmy McGriff,
Jandek,
Idris Muhammad,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Lucky Dragons,
Japan,
The Toasters,
Wings,
Hot Snakes,
Fat Boys,
Nik Kershaw,
the Slits,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Janne Schatter,
Dawn Penn,
The J.B.'s,
The Moleskins,
Kevin Saunderson,
Tres Demented,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Peter & Gordon,
Duran Duran,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Bang On A Can,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Thompson Twins,
Eric Dolphy,
Jeff Lynne,
Gong,
Minutemen,
UT,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Fluxion,
Jacques Brel,
Gang Starr,
Big Daddy Kane,
Radiohead,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Associates,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Buzzcocks,
June Days,
Pagans,
Sparks,
Heaven 17,
Cheater Slicks,
Graham Central Station,
Kerri Chandler,
The Last Poets,
Kas Product,
The Count Five,
Shoche,
Sun City Girls,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Simply Red,
Electric Prunes,
Scion,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.