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 Ghana and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the güiro 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 Slick Rick to the grunge 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 10cc. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Red Lorry Yellow Lorry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 clarinet and an arpeggiator 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 theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Frankie Knuckles,
Symarip,
Thompson Twins,
Ludus,
Juan Atkins,
Young Marble Giants,
Bill Wells,
The Smiths,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Sound,
the Germs,
Japan,
Tres Demented,
Morten Harket,
Matthew Bourne,
Mantronix,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
FM Einheit,
Eli Mardock,
Brothers Johnson,
The Music Machine,
Anthony Braxton,
Hashim,
John Lydon,
Mark Hollis,
Vainqueur,
Jandek,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Gories,
Man Eating Sloth,
Black Sheep,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Deepchord,
DJ Style,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Kenny Larkin,
Sällskapet,
The Cramps,
Au Pairs,
Kool Moe Dee,
Sister Nancy,
the Sonics,
Shoche,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Marine Girls,
Funky Four + One,
Carl Craig,
The Blues Magoos,
Maurizio,
Bauhaus,
Lucky Dragons,
Mary Jane Girls,
48th St. Collective,
Junior Murvin,
The Red Krayola,
Warsaw,
Glenn Branca,
The Monks,
Brass Construction,
Curtis Mayfield,
Los Fastidios,
Dave Gahan, Dave Gahan, Dave Gahan, Dave Gahan.
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.