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 Brunei and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 rhodes 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 Negative Approach to the grime 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 Janne Schatter. All the underground hits.
All The Sisters of Mercy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harmonia record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet 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 snare and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Moon,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Echospace,
the Slits,
Albert Ayler,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Remains,
The Happenings,
Wings,
Gil Scott Heron,
Soft Machine,
Deadbeat,
Gong,
Q65,
The Beau Brummels,
Jerry's Kids,
Pagans,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Drive Like Jehu,
Pulsallama,
David Axelrod,
Marc Almond,
Girls At Our Best!,
Stiv Bators,
Roxette,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Eurythmics,
Tres Demented,
Nik Kershaw,
John Foxx,
Faraquet,
K-Klass,
Hot Snakes,
Lightning Bolt,
Schoolly D,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Whodini,
Fatback Band,
Ten City,
Qualms,
Hashim,
Dual Sessions,
Cecil Taylor,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Suicide,
The Vogues,
Jacques Brel,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Stooges,
The Moleskins,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Angry Samoans,
Hasil Adkins,
Janne Schatter,
Sex Pistols,
Kenny Larkin,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Ultravox,
Rhythm & Sound,
Godley & Creme,
Kaleidoscope, Kaleidoscope, Kaleidoscope, Kaleidoscope.
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.