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 Senegal and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Hoover to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Angry Samoans. All the underground hits.
All Amazonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Associates record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a marimba 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 marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
AZ,
the Soft Cell,
Bill Wells,
Simply Red,
Deepchord,
The Standells,
Sexual Harrassment,
Quando Quango,
Lindisfarne,
JFA,
Wally Richardson,
Stereo Dub,
Girls At Our Best!,
David Bowie,
Tommy Roe,
The Trojans,
Skaos,
New Order,
Main Source,
Lakeside,
Black Sheep,
Camouflage,
Scott Walker,
Hardrive,
Byron Stingily,
Harmonia,
Janne Schatter,
Marvin Gaye,
The Busters,
Popol Vuh,
Graham Central Station,
The Shadows of Knight,
Fela Kuti,
The Fall,
The J.B.'s,
Letta Mbulu,
The Selecter,
The Toasters,
Nick Fraelich,
Marcia Griffiths,
Flipper,
The Fuzztones,
Kaleidoscope,
Country Teasers,
Barry Ungar,
Yellowson,
Swell Maps,
Altered Images,
Von Mondo,
The Stooges,
Das Ding,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Grauzone,
Don Cherry,
The Sonics,
Avey Tare,
Absolute Body Control,
L. Decosne,
Goldenarms,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Skarface,
Bill Near,
Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys.
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.