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 Taiwan and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the sitar 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane 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 David McCallum. All the underground hits.
All The Flesh Eaters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lee Hazlewood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba 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 synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Subhumans,
Mission of Burma,
E-Dancer,
Johnny Osbourne,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Stereo Dub,
Lindisfarne,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Animal Collective,
Ultra Naté,
Harmonia,
Chris & Cosey,
Freddie Wadling,
Toni Rubio,
AZ,
Ice-T,
Sun Ra,
Q and Not U,
The Fall,
Lower 48,
Second Layer,
Unwound,
The Doors,
Sexual Harrassment,
Monks,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Visage,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Skatalites,
The Golliwogs,
The Barracudas,
Qualms,
Sixth Finger,
Tres Demented,
Television Personalities,
John Holt,
Moebius,
Dawn Penn,
Hoover,
Ronan,
K-Klass,
The Pop Group,
Nirvana,
Pagans,
Basic Channel,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Nas,
Blake Baxter,
Electric Prunes,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Metal Thangz,
JFA,
Cecil Taylor,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Steve Hackett,
Porter Ricks,
Carl Craig,
Gang Green,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ken Boothe,
Swell Maps,
Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum.
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.