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 Portugal and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the oboe 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 Flamin' Groovies to the crunk 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 the Swans. All the underground hits.
All Ronan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a spring reverb 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 snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Vainqueur,
Surgeon,
Saccharine Trust,
James White and The Blacks,
Hoover,
The Litter,
Ralphi Rosario,
Fad Gadget,
Clear Light,
Joe Smooth,
The Cure,
Marine Girls,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Letta Mbulu,
Cheater Slicks,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Derrick Morgan,
A Certain Ratio,
Motorama,
Lightning Bolt,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Dave Clark Five,
Ludus,
Barclay James Harvest,
Theoretical Girls,
Technova,
Rotary Connection,
The Last Poets,
John Foxx,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ohio Players,
Eddi Front,
Grey Daturas,
The Remains,
Skriet,
The Techniques,
The Leaves,
Rapeman,
Au Pairs,
the Association,
Gang Gang Dance,
Mission of Burma,
the Soft Cell,
Organ,
Sugar Minott,
the Swans,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Henry Cow,
Panda Bear,
Derrick May,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Yusef Lateef,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Stiv Bators,
Angry Samoans,
Althea and Donna,
The Fall,
Bobby Byrd,
Jeru the Damaja,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bang On A Can, Bang On A Can, Bang On A Can, Bang On A Can.
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.