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 Malaysia and from Salvador.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Ajijia Myrayebe to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Count Five. All the underground hits.
All Swell Maps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hot Snakes 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator 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 rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
Bill Wells,
Bob Dylan,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Dave Gahan,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
New York Dolls,
Tim Buckley,
Davy DMX,
Gastr Del Sol,
Faust,
Connie Case,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Faraquet,
Alton Ellis,
Spandau Ballet,
Tommy Roe,
Delon & Dalcan,
Nico,
Nirvana,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Slick Rick,
The Remains,
Eve St. Jones,
Traffic Nightmare,
Y Pants,
the Normal,
The Blues Magoos,
Al Stewart,
Kool Moe Dee,
Freddie Wadling,
Public Enemy,
CMW,
The Dirtbombs,
Pulsallama,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
K-Klass,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Zeros,
Sex Pistols,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Suburban Knight,
John Foxx,
E-Dancer,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The J.B.'s,
Wolf Eyes,
8 Eyed Spy,
Spoonie Gee,
Massinfluence,
Clear Light,
Panda Bear,
Arthur Verocai,
The Move,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Donald Byrd,
Niagra,
Peter & Gordon,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
David Bowie,
Intrusion,
Bizarre Inc.,
Ultravox,
Scott Walker,
Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange.
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.