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 Marshall Islands and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Faust. All the underground hits.
All the Association tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MC5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a rhodes 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 clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sonics,
Sexual Harrassment,
Ituana,
Metal Thangz,
Audionom,
Gregory Isaacs,
Wire,
The Stooges,
Bush Tetras,
Leonard Cohen,
Black Bananas,
Lightning Bolt,
The Standells,
The New Christs,
Johnny Clarke,
K-Klass,
Kerrie Biddell,
Popol Vuh,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
World's Most,
ABBA,
Au Pairs,
CMW,
The American Breed,
OOIOO,
Make Up,
Rotary Connection,
Q and Not U,
Angry Samoans,
The J.B.'s,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Avey Tare,
The Gories,
Bronski Beat,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Rites of Spring,
The Blues Magoos,
Pere Ubu,
Letta Mbulu,
The Cowsills,
The Birthday Party,
Gastr Del Sol,
Smog,
Marcia Griffiths,
June Days,
Japan,
Youth Brigade,
Ronan,
Minor Threat,
Ultravox,
The United States of America,
Amazonics,
Easy Going,
Little Man,
Radiopuhelimet,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Alarm Clocks,
Motorama,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Jimmy McGriff,
Lebanon Hanover,
Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef.
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.