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 United Kingdom and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Techniques to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Al Stewart. All the underground hits.
All Liliput tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Smog 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet 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 güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Inner City,
Kenny Larkin,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Angry Samoans,
Y Pants,
Howard Jones,
The United States of America,
Rotary Connection,
T.S.O.L.,
Lalann,
Soul II Soul,
Stereo Dub,
Pere Ubu,
Sister Nancy,
Jerry Gold Smith,
These Immortal Souls,
Throbbing Gristle,
Young Marble Giants,
Avey Tare,
Main Source,
E-Dancer,
Gastr Del Sol,
Jacques Brel,
Rhythm & Sound,
Essential Logic,
Scratch Acid,
Thee Headcoats,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Warsaw,
Pole,
Neu!,
Motorama,
Bronski Beat,
Aloha Tigers,
Bizarre Inc.,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Cybotron,
Man Parrish,
Slave,
The Raincoats,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Joy Division,
The Vogues,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Theoretical Girls,
Average White Band,
Rufus Thomas,
The Pretty Things,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Cramps,
Ohio Players,
Trumans Water,
Kerri Chandler,
Ronan,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Joe Finger,
Camberwell Now,
Alice Coltrane,
Pierre Henry,
Robert Hood,
Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young.
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.