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 Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Manila.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Unrelated Segments to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Mars. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Sherman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Althea and Donna 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum 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 organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Detroit Cobras,
The Mummies,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Ornette Coleman,
Public Image Ltd.,
Scott Walker,
Vladislav Delay,
Hashim,
Iggy Pop,
The Birthday Party,
Boz Scaggs,
8 Eyed Spy,
Black Moon,
Alton Ellis,
Liliput,
Glenn Branca,
Dorothy Ashby,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Thee Headcoats,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Mad Mike,
Parry Music,
Saccharine Trust,
Thompson Twins,
Althea and Donna,
Robert Wyatt,
Joyce Sims,
Fela Kuti,
Buzzcocks,
Ice-T,
Main Source,
Letta Mbulu,
LL Cool J,
Mr. Review,
Gichy Dan,
Panda Bear,
David Bowie,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Girls At Our Best!,
Newcleus,
Delon & Dalcan,
Aaron Thompson,
Soulsonic Force,
Charles Mingus,
New Age Steppers,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Neil Young,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Stereo Dub,
Davy DMX,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Martian,
Kaleidoscope,
Section 25,
Goldenarms,
Nas,
Nik Kershaw,
Scrapy,
The Monochrome Set,
Rosa Yemen,
48th St. Collective,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.