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 Micronesia and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 R.M.O. to the grunge 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago. All the underground hits.
All Kool G Rap & DJ Polo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb 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 linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Fela Kuti,
Kas Product,
Girls At Our Best!,
Khruangbin,
Pylon,
Archie Shepp,
The Pretty Things,
Supertramp,
Mo-Dettes,
Skarface,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Nils Olav,
The Dirtbombs,
Roxette,
R.M.O.,
Make Up,
Brothers Johnson,
Wolf Eyes,
Inner City,
Funky Four + One,
The Fire Engines,
Henry Cow,
Malaria!,
Minutemen,
Black Sheep,
John Cale,
The Martian,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Massinfluence,
Drexciya,
Spandau Ballet,
Zapp,
Joyce Sims,
The Real Kids,
Patti Smith,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Walker Brothers,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Alarm Clocks,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Young Marble Giants,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Grass Roots,
Ultra Naté,
Magma,
Ultimate Spinach,
Jawbox,
Rekid,
Wings,
Maleditus Sound,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Erykah Badu,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Kerrie Biddell,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Flipper,
Andrew Hill,
Jacques Brel,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra.
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.