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 Cyprus and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Man Parrish 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 The Skatalites. All the underground hits.
All B.T. Express tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a sitar 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 mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fela Kuti,
Joy Division,
Mission of Burma,
Unrelated Segments,
Sonny Sharrock,
Pulsallama,
Avey Tare,
Althea and Donna,
Lyres,
Donald Byrd,
Masters at Work,
Nik Kershaw,
Lee Hazlewood,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Loose Ends,
Depeche Mode,
Echospace,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Au Pairs,
Das Ding,
Royal Trux,
Eric Dolphy,
Erykah Badu,
Malaria!,
Jacob Miller,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Mummies,
Magma,
Rotary Connection,
Warsaw,
Funky Four + One,
The Buckinghams,
The Gories,
Yusef Lateef,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Ronan,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Minny Pops,
Angry Samoans,
The Invisible,
The Smiths,
Half Japanese,
the Sonics,
Godley & Creme,
Maurizio,
Joe Smooth,
The Stooges,
Black Moon,
The Searchers,
Pagans,
Pylon,
Make Up,
Skriet,
The Saints,
Derrick Morgan,
The Moody Blues,
A Certain Ratio,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Qualms,
The Trojans,
The Fugs,
The Gladiators,
Cymande, Cymande, Cymande, Cymande.
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.