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 Iraq and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Calgary.
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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Fort Wilson Riot to the techno 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 Au Pairs. All the underground hits.
All Gabor Szabo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Velvet Underground 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a synthesizer 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 clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Darondo,
The Gladiators,
Aswad,
Crispy Ambulance,
Sun City Girls,
Joey Negro,
Joe Finger,
Freddie Wadling,
The Velvet Underground,
Sound Behaviour,
Fat Boys,
Nik Kershaw,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Monochrome Set,
Can,
The Moody Blues,
Ponytail,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
MDC,
Oblivians,
Tim Buckley,
The Real Kids,
Yazoo,
Television Personalities,
Alison Limerick,
Clear Light,
Ken Boothe,
Boogie Down Productions,
Delta 5,
Groovy Waters,
A Certain Ratio,
Mark Hollis,
The Fuzztones,
Funkadelic,
Lalann,
Parry Music,
Eden Ahbez,
Bootsy Collins,
Scrapy,
Skriet,
Desert Stars,
Bobby Byrd,
Kurtis Blow,
Roxette,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Kas Product,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Circle Jerks,
The Sonics,
The Knickerbockers,
Panda Bear,
The Durutti Column,
Television,
In Retrospect,
World's Most,
Suburban Knight,
Dual Sessions,
Byron Stingily,
Jandek,
Nico, Nico, Nico, Nico.
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.