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 Cape Verde and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 chamberlin 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 Glenn Branca to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Eve St. Jones. All the underground hits.
All Surgeon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every R.M.O. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro 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 oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Organ,
Adolescents,
Ten City,
Model 500,
Young Marble Giants,
Wolf Eyes,
The Cure,
Derrick May,
Cluster,
Von Mondo,
Barry Ungar,
CMW,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Marmalade,
Outsiders,
Mantronix,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Skatalites,
Flipper,
Circle Jerks,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Kenny Larkin,
Sound Behaviour,
Bobby Womack,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Fugs,
Avey Tare,
Jawbox,
Altered Images,
Glenn Branca,
Depeche Mode,
The Tremeloes,
John Lydon,
Pagans,
Moss Icon,
Bad Manners,
The Gories,
Japan,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Motorama,
The Selecter,
Hardrive,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Ossler,
Kas Product,
Brass Construction,
Saccharine Trust,
Surgeon,
Gong,
the Human League,
Q65,
Gang of Four,
Dark Day,
Gabor Szabo,
Nick Fraelich,
Terry Callier,
Yusef Lateef,
Buzzcocks,
Albert Ayler,
Arab on Radar,
Arthur Verocai, Arthur Verocai, Arthur Verocai, Arthur Verocai.
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.