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 Mali and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the linndrum 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 New York Dolls to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Whodini. All the underground hits.
All Cameo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Flesh Eaters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes 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 mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alice Coltrane,
The Fortunes,
Colin Newman,
Isaac Hayes,
The Names,
Brand Nubian,
Bill Near,
The J.B.'s,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Pop Group,
Ice-T,
Ornette Coleman,
Monks,
Stereo Dub,
Model 500,
Half Japanese,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Robert Hood,
Fluxion,
Nik Kershaw,
Scientists,
Fatback Band,
AZ,
Albert Ayler,
The Fire Engines,
The Move,
the Swans,
Johnny Osbourne,
Brick,
Sam Rivers,
John Lydon,
Marcia Griffiths,
Motorama,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Jacob Miller,
Ponytail,
Pylon,
UT,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
LL Cool J,
Maleditus Sound,
the Slits,
Television Personalities,
Prince Buster,
Lou Christie,
Black Sheep,
Urselle,
The Human League,
Fela Kuti,
Mad Mike,
Stockholm Monsters,
Fear,
Dennis Brown,
Cheater Slicks,
The Black Dice,
Lalo Schifrin,
Pole,
The Last Poets,
Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel.
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.