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 Sweden and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Quantec to the grime 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 The Selecter. All the underground hits.
All The Associates tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every H. Thieme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron 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 organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Toasters,
Moby Grape,
Agitation Free,
Peter & Gordon,
The Slackers,
Malaria!,
Khruangbin,
Lalann,
Simply Red,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Pop Group,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Radiopuhelimet,
Tubeway Army,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Grauzone,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Graham Central Station,
Pantytec,
Scan 7,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Peter and Kerry,
The Five Americans,
Nico,
The Gap Band,
Essential Logic,
The Walker Brothers,
MDC,
Negative Approach,
Lungfish,
Agent Orange,
The United States of America,
The Cramps,
Neil Young,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Cowsills,
Sonny Sharrock,
Pagans,
10cc,
Magma,
Erasure,
Ultra Naté,
Spandau Ballet,
The Blackbyrds,
DNA,
Stereo Dub,
Quantec,
Dark Day,
Anthony Braxton,
Pere Ubu,
Sparks,
Black Sheep,
These Immortal Souls,
X-101,
Black Moon,
Rekid,
Theoretical Girls,
Index,
Warren Ellis,
The Motions,
Crispian St. Peters,
Organ,
Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood.
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.