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 Tajikistan and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Selecter to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Monolake tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Happenings record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar 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 an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Quadrant,
the Human League,
AZ,
Bill Near,
Supertramp,
Chris & Cosey,
Glambeats Corp.,
L. Decosne,
The Last Poets,
Amon Düül,
Dual Sessions,
Lower 48,
The Gap Band,
The American Breed,
Adolescents,
Hashim,
Nils Olav,
Bootsy Collins,
X-102,
Faraquet,
Mo-Dettes,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
EPMD,
The Invisible,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Dorothy Ashby,
Danielle Patucci,
Cybotron,
cv313,
Pierre Henry,
Boogie Down Productions,
Spoonie Gee,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Echospace,
Patti Smith,
La Düsseldorf,
Warsaw,
Neil Young,
Connie Case,
Los Fastidios,
Tomorrow,
the Sonics,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Neon Judgement,
The Martian,
The Dirtbombs,
Vainqueur,
Buzzcocks,
Bizarre Inc.,
Idris Muhammad,
Desert Stars,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Rapeman,
Model 500,
Dead Boys,
Mission of Burma,
The Real Kids,
Drive Like Jehu,
Pere Ubu,
The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department.
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.