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 Mali and from Columbus.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the güiro 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 Ronan to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Letta Mbulu. All the underground hits.
All Clear Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Shadows of Knight 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a clarinet 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 rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Happenings,
The Beau Brummels,
Hoover,
Thee Headcoats,
R.M.O.,
Neu!,
Sonny Sharrock,
Matthew Halsall,
The Real Kids,
Mantronix,
Sex Pistols,
the Sonics,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Howard Jones,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Aural Exciters,
Tomorrow,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sugar Minott,
Brand Nubian,
Juan Atkins,
The Residents,
The Misunderstood,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
L. Decosne,
The Offenders,
Tropical Tobacco,
Throbbing Gristle,
Circle Jerks,
DJ Style,
Camberwell Now,
Andrew Hill,
Donald Byrd,
Isaac Hayes,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Moby Grape,
The Martian,
The Evens,
Roxy Music,
Subhumans,
Marvin Gaye,
Quando Quango,
The Buckinghams,
The Angels of Light,
The Last Poets,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
48th St. Collective,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
the Swans,
Iggy Pop,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Alice Coltrane,
Aswad,
Black Sheep,
The Monochrome Set,
Inner City,
Nas,
Cluster,
Glambeats Corp.,
Amon Düül,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks, Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks, Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks, Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks.
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.