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 Malta and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Portland.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet 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 David McCallum to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sonny Sharrock. All the underground hits.
All Quadrant tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jerry Gold Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a sitar 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 sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Delta 5,
Severed Heads,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Move,
Motorama,
Fad Gadget,
The Moody Blues,
Aural Exciters,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Japan,
Chris & Cosey,
Harmonia,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Gang Starr,
Lightning Bolt,
Glenn Branca,
Michelle Simonal,
Ultra Naté,
Laurel Aitken,
Bobby Sherman,
Matthew Bourne,
Curtis Mayfield,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lyres,
Howard Jones,
Ultimate Spinach,
Shuggie Otis,
Don Cherry,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Fall,
Wire,
Tomorrow,
Animal Collective,
Juan Atkins,
The Music Machine,
Eden Ahbez,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Byron Stingily,
Royal Trux,
Marshall Jefferson,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Max Romeo,
the Normal,
Sexual Harrassment,
The New Christs,
The Monks,
Jimmy McGriff,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Arab on Radar,
Gong,
Index,
Maleditus Sound,
Electric Prunes,
Swell Maps,
Quando Quango,
Smog,
Rosa Yemen,
Davy DMX,
Girls At Our Best!, Girls At Our Best!, Girls At Our Best!, Girls At Our Best!.
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.