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 the UAE and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Country Joe & The Fish to the techno 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 Los Fastidios. All the underground hits.
All Mission of Burma tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Modern Lovers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba 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 harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Saints,
Jandek,
the Germs,
New Order,
Robert Wyatt,
Black Bananas,
The Blues Magoos,
Von Mondo,
Adolescents,
Negative Approach,
Livin' Joy,
Das Ding,
Hoover,
Flipper,
Crispian St. Peters,
8 Eyed Spy,
Derrick Morgan,
Joyce Sims,
Magazine,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Howard Jones,
The Fall,
Bootsy Collins,
Supertramp,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Josef K,
DJ Sneak,
Smog,
The Five Americans,
10cc,
Yusef Lateef,
Masters at Work,
Visage,
Au Pairs,
DJ Style,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Fugs,
Inner City,
Little Man,
Pantytec,
Roxy Music,
Hot Snakes,
AZ,
Girls At Our Best!,
Warsaw,
Whodini,
Charles Mingus,
Lungfish,
Bill Near,
Amon Düül,
Scrapy,
Curtis Mayfield,
Sun City Girls,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Sex Pistols,
Kayak,
Second Layer,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Move,
Jacob Miller,
Rod Modell, Rod Modell, Rod Modell, Rod Modell.
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.