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 Papua New Guinea and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Terry Callier to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Lou Reed. All the underground hits.
All Major Organ And The Adding Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Move 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a harpsichord 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 synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shuggie Otis,
Boz Scaggs,
Grandmaster Flash,
Mandrill,
Dark Day,
EPMD,
Wally Richardson,
Whodini,
Q and Not U,
Saccharine Trust,
Ultra Naté,
Pierre Henry,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Reagan Youth,
The Gories,
Ken Boothe,
Panda Bear,
Babytalk,
The Kinks,
Sight & Sound,
JFA,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Hashim,
Matthew Bourne,
The Doobie Brothers,
Radiohead,
These Immortal Souls,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Agitation Free,
The Selecter,
Mad Mike,
Vladislav Delay,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Easy Going,
Essential Logic,
Pantaleimon,
Amazonics,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sparks,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Tres Demented,
Massinfluence,
Camouflage,
CMW,
Delon & Dalcan,
Roxy Music,
The Gun Club,
David McCallum,
Dennis Brown,
John Holt,
The Beau Brummels,
Soft Machine,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Thee Headcoats,
The Toasters,
Max Romeo,
Radiopuhelimet,
Avey Tare,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Terrestrial Tones,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.