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 Bahamas and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Roxette to the electroclash 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 Grauzone. All the underground hits.
All The Trojans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cecil Taylor record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an organ and a harpsichord 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 arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wire,
Deepchord,
Outsiders,
Yusef Lateef,
Letta Mbulu,
World's Most,
Black Moon,
Don Cherry,
Excepter,
Pulsallama,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Flesh Eaters,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Spoonie Gee,
Tears for Fears,
Matthew Halsall,
Kaleidoscope,
Flash Fearless,
Thompson Twins,
Vainqueur,
Black Sheep,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
X-102,
Jandek,
Sixth Finger,
The Happenings,
Supertramp,
Donald Byrd,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Cramps,
Hoover,
The Slits,
Oneida,
Al Stewart,
Toni Rubio,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Modern Lovers,
The New Christs,
Q and Not U,
New Age Steppers,
Lightning Bolt,
Parry Music,
Mr. Review,
Sonny Sharrock,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Dennis Brown,
The Music Machine,
Robert Hood,
Marcia Griffiths,
Trumans Water,
Hasil Adkins,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Roxette,
Quadrant,
Sly & The Family Stone,
the Slits,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Kerri Chandler,
Kevin Saunderson,
Gabor Szabo, Gabor Szabo, Gabor Szabo, Gabor Szabo.
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.