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 Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
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 Electric Light Orchestra to the disco 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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All Moss Icon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quantec record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 snare 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 synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Slits,
Soul Sonic Force,
Drexciya,
Marvin Gaye,
Neu!,
Avey Tare,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Pole,
June Days,
Gerry Rafferty,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Victims,
Idris Muhammad,
Man Eating Sloth,
Radiohead,
The Invisible,
Steve Hackett,
Franke,
Roxette,
Lakeside,
One Last Wish,
the Normal,
Agent Orange,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Bobby Womack,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Mummies,
Erasure,
Kurtis Blow,
Main Source,
Andrew Hill,
Y Pants,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Eli Mardock,
Electric Prunes,
Supertramp,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
A Certain Ratio,
Letta Mbulu,
Rotary Connection,
Sparks,
Ralphi Rosario,
Delta 5,
Sällskapet,
Moby Grape,
The Tremeloes,
Lucky Dragons,
the Swans,
Godley & Creme,
The Selecter,
The Doobie Brothers,
Goldenarms,
Pet Shop Boys,
T. Rex,
Swans,
Rufus Thomas,
Technova,
Cheater Slicks,
Depeche Mode,
Loose Ends,
Boredoms,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Music Machine,
Rakim, Rakim, Rakim, Rakim.
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.