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 Cuba and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the sitar 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 Amazonics to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Das Ding. All the underground hits.
All Fear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Justin Hinds & The Dominoes 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a guitar 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 spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Bourne,
Gerry Rafferty,
Barrington Levy,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Sound,
Grey Daturas,
The Electric Prunes,
Skarface,
Pylon,
Silicon Teens,
Parry Music,
Jimmy McGriff,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Rakim,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Pop Group,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Tubeway Army,
David Axelrod,
Yellowson,
Arab on Radar,
Ponytail,
Robert Görl,
Dual Sessions,
The Beau Brummels,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Camberwell Now,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bronski Beat,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Graham Central Station,
Shoche,
Donald Byrd,
Agitation Free,
Oneida,
JFA,
Minutemen,
Black Pus,
Spoonie Gee,
Moby Grape,
Lalo Schifrin,
Tom Boy,
the Sonics,
Magazine,
Babytalk,
Jacques Brel,
Adolescents,
Wolf Eyes,
Interpol,
The Birthday Party,
Intrusion,
Wally Richardson,
Youth Brigade,
Delon & Dalcan,
the Fania All-Stars,
John Coltrane,
Sun Ra,
The Durutti Column,
Nas,
Bush Tetras,
Matthew Halsall,
Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway.
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.