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 Chad and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Camouflage to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Five Americans. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Hutcherson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ludus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 güiro and a clarinet 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 clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stockholm Monsters,
Peter and Kerry,
Radiopuhelimet,
Yusef Lateef,
Jesper Dahlback,
Junior Murvin,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Average White Band,
The Names,
10cc,
Dual Sessions,
Aswad,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Gregory Isaacs,
Glambeats Corp.,
Traffic Nightmare,
Grauzone,
The Stooges,
Brothers Johnson,
The Standells,
Henry Cow,
the Sonics,
Rotary Connection,
Easy Going,
Yazoo,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Second Layer,
The United States of America,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Lungfish,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Alarm Clocks,
Make Up,
T.S.O.L.,
Skarface,
Frankie Knuckles,
Amon Düül II,
Lebanon Hanover,
Tropical Tobacco,
Hardrive,
Cameo,
Andrew Hill,
Dark Day,
Sex Pistols,
The Durutti Column,
E-Dancer,
Symarip,
Davy DMX,
Warsaw,
Pantytec,
The Remains,
Sonny Sharrock,
Pylon,
Fatback Band,
The Modern Lovers,
Kenny Larkin,
Dawn Penn,
U.S. Maple,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.