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 Indonesia and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Dorothy Ashby to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Icehouse. All the underground hits.
All Dorothy Ashby tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Archie Shepp record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer 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 sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Bananas,
Kaleidoscope,
The Skatalites,
Gang Gang Dance,
Ken Boothe,
Bobby Hutcherson,
This Heat,
David Bowie,
Television,
Glambeats Corp.,
Gong,
Laurel Aitken,
Arab on Radar,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Blackbyrds,
The J.B.'s,
Scott Walker,
Arcadia,
The Real Kids,
Wings,
Malaria!,
One Last Wish,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Accadde A,
The Cure,
Brass Construction,
Roy Ayers,
Maurizio,
Eric Dolphy,
Rotary Connection,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Electric Prunes,
Parry Music,
A Certain Ratio,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
the Association,
The Blues Magoos,
Average White Band,
Archie Shepp,
Pantytec,
Aaron Thompson,
Bronski Beat,
Johnny Clarke,
The Stooges,
The Sonics,
Stetsasonic,
Steve Hackett,
AZ,
The Fire Engines,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Alphaville,
Idris Muhammad,
The Misunderstood,
Colin Newman,
The Fall,
The Knickerbockers,
Crispy Ambulance,
Chris Corsano,
Jeff Mills,
Franke,
Babytalk,
Thompson Twins,
The Mojo Men, The Mojo Men, The Mojo Men, The Mojo Men.
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.