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 Nauru and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 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 Althea and Donna to the grunge 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 Bootsy Collins. All the underground hits.
All Teenage Jesus and the Jerks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every KRS-One record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron 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 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The American Breed,
Mo-Dettes,
cv313,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Eddi Front,
Country Teasers,
Neil Young,
Au Pairs,
Eli Mardock,
Fad Gadget,
The Offenders,
Loose Ends,
The Mojo Men,
Harpers Bizarre,
Nas,
Nation of Ulysses,
Soulsonic Force,
Ultra Naté,
Gabor Szabo,
Yusef Lateef,
The Velvet Underground,
Nik Kershaw,
The Trojans,
Roger Hodgson,
Sex Pistols,
A Certain Ratio,
Man Parrish,
Schoolly D,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Rhythm & Sound,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Sandy B,
Thompson Twins,
Massinfluence,
Chrome,
Silicon Teens,
Faraquet,
The Misunderstood,
Y Pants,
Q and Not U,
Technova,
Fatback Band,
Yazoo,
Oneida,
Jeru the Damaja,
Flamin' Groovies,
The J.B.'s,
Lucky Dragons,
Section 25,
Pere Ubu,
Kevin Saunderson,
Crash Course in Science,
Skaos,
John Holt,
Essential Logic,
Todd Rundgren,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Barbara Tucker,
the Soft Cell,
John Lydon,
Michelle Simonal,
Pole,
Jeff Mills,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.