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 Slovenia and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Johnny Clarke to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Man Eating Sloth. All the underground hits.
All Technova tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sixth Finger record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba 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 theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Golliwogs,
Judy Mowatt,
Jerry's Kids,
Bill Wells,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Toni Rubio,
Circle Jerks,
The Happenings,
Donald Byrd,
Brand Nubian,
The Fuzztones,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Divine Comedy,
Fatback Band,
Glenn Branca,
Black Pus,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
JFA,
The Smoke,
The Monks,
The Misunderstood,
Kayak,
One Last Wish,
Duran Duran,
Pussy Galore,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Skriet,
Schoolly D,
Icehouse,
The Invisible,
Sexual Harrassment,
Derrick Morgan,
Ten City,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Mandrill,
Soul II Soul,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Slave,
Tomorrow,
The Trojans,
Cluster,
Sound Behaviour,
Tubeway Army,
Faraquet,
Aural Exciters,
Isaac Hayes,
Livin' Joy,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Second Layer,
The Tremeloes,
Bobby Sherman,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Magma,
Bill Near,
Liliput,
Accadde A,
LL Cool J,
Freddie Wadling,
Masters at Work,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Real Kids,
Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band.
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.