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 Cape Verde and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Marmalade to the funk 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 Metal Thangz. All the underground hits.
All Zero Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cosmic Jokers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 güiro 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 linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wire,
Jandek,
the Association,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Dennis Brown,
Chris & Cosey,
JFA,
Wally Richardson,
Das Ding,
Dead Boys,
This Heat,
CMW,
Yellowson,
The Victims,
ABC,
Audionom,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Arcadia,
Grandmaster Flash,
Trumans Water,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Monochrome Set,
Rosa Yemen,
Severed Heads,
Pharoah Sanders,
Zero Boys,
The Slits,
the Human League,
Rapeman,
Loose Ends,
The Stooges,
The Music Machine,
Duran Duran,
Amon Düül II,
Brass Construction,
Sparks,
The Trojans,
Harmonia,
Mary Jane Girls,
Jeff Mills,
Shoche,
H. Thieme,
Young Marble Giants,
Ponytail,
The Knickerbockers,
The Fugs,
The Toasters,
Deepchord,
The J.B.'s,
The Flesh Eaters,
Mandrill,
The Selecter,
David McCallum,
Joy Division,
the Sonics,
Anthony Braxton,
Interpol,
Depeche Mode,
Pere Ubu,
Newcleus,
Buzzcocks,
Suburban Knight,
Altered Images, Altered Images, Altered Images, Altered Images.
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.