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 Namibia and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Mexico City.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
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 The Kinks to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Rahsaan Roland Kirk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Man Parrish 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a theremin 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 rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Byrd,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The American Breed,
The J.B.'s,
Unrelated Segments,
Isaac Hayes,
Trumans Water,
Underground Resistance,
a-ha,
Peter & Gordon,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Cowsills,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Donald Byrd,
Althea and Donna,
Soft Machine,
Unwound,
Colin Newman,
James White and The Blacks,
Index,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Index,
Suburban Knight,
Chris Corsano,
Guru Guru,
Swans,
Marshall Jefferson,
Audionom,
Lucky Dragons,
Sam Rivers,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Slits,
Kool Moe Dee,
Cybotron,
Ituana,
Mr. Review,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
New York Dolls,
Newcleus,
Andrew Hill,
Bootsy Collins,
Tubeway Army,
The Pop Group,
OOIOO,
Mo-Dettes,
Dorothy Ashby,
Throbbing Gristle,
Icehouse,
Bobby Womack,
Essential Logic,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Fifty Foot Hose,
EPMD,
Crash Course in Science,
Anakelly,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Frankie Knuckles,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Stooges,
Ludus,
Rosa Yemen,
Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun.
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.