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 Canada and from Accra.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Zapp to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Stereo Dub. All the underground hits.
All Brand Nubian tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Banda Bassotti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 clarinet 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 guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Livin' Joy,
Skarface,
Absolute Body Control,
Mary Jane Girls,
Erasure,
Danielle Patucci,
Reuben Wilson,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Rod Modell,
Leonard Cohen,
Ponytail,
Sixth Finger,
Outsiders,
Eve St. Jones,
Davy DMX,
Charles Mingus,
Yusef Lateef,
Aloha Tigers,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Bronski Beat,
Joensuu 1685,
Motorama,
Barbara Tucker,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Moss Icon,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Cosmic Jokers,
the Normal,
the Bar-Kays,
Electric Prunes,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Count Five,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Cramps,
Moebius,
Tubeway Army,
Spandau Ballet,
Bill Wells,
Janne Schatter,
Nico,
The Pop Group,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Urselle,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Radiopuhelimet,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
X-Ray Spex,
Bush Tetras,
Surgeon,
The Moleskins,
Maurizio,
The Gladiators,
The Slits,
Dave Gahan,
Scratch Acid,
The Searchers,
Echospace,
Isaac Hayes,
Gang Green,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Electric Prunes,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.