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 South Sudan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Barclay James Harvest to the crunk 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 Nico. All the underground hits.
All Heaven 17 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter and Kerry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb 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 guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mad Mike,
The Star Department,
The Busters,
Whodini,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Rakim,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Velvet Underground,
Reagan Youth,
Robert Hood,
The Raincoats,
Hardrive,
the Human League,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Glambeats Corp.,
Negative Approach,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Stiv Bators,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Roxy Music,
Trumans Water,
The Offenders,
Zero Boys,
Connie Case,
China Crisis,
Gong,
Los Fastidios,
Cal Tjader,
T. Rex,
Scrapy,
Pussy Galore,
Lower 48,
The Buckinghams,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Grass Roots,
Darondo,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Gang Starr,
Television Personalities,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Agitation Free,
The Move,
L. Decosne,
Au Pairs,
The Electric Prunes,
Ituana,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Red Krayola,
Scratch Acid,
The Fall,
The Skatalites,
The Dirtbombs,
Parry Music,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Detroit Cobras,
the Bar-Kays,
Dead Boys,
The American Breed,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Piero Umiliani,
Fort Wilson Riot, Fort Wilson Riot, Fort Wilson Riot, Fort Wilson Riot.
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.