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 Tunisia and from New York.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 chamberlin 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 Soulsonic Force 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 Liaisons Dangereuses. All the underground hits.
All Ash Ra Tempel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every In Retrospect record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro 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 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
8 Eyed Spy,
Easy Going,
The Smoke,
Kas Product,
Bauhaus,
Basic Channel,
The Real Kids,
Gichy Dan,
AZ,
Sexual Harrassment,
KRS-One,
John Lydon,
Cluster,
Drexciya,
Pierre Henry,
Rakim,
Johnny Clarke,
The Fire Engines,
Iggy Pop,
Porter Ricks,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
U.S. Maple,
Ice-T,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Searchers,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Slackers,
Outsiders,
Traffic Nightmare,
Tim Buckley,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Eurythmics,
X-Ray Spex,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Happenings,
Jeff Lynne,
Crime,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Anakelly,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Mo-Dettes,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Alarm Clocks,
the Swans,
Shoche,
The Doobie Brothers,
Black Sheep,
FM Einheit,
Camberwell Now,
Boz Scaggs,
Howard Jones,
Skarface,
Ossler,
Scratch Acid,
The Music Machine,
Donald Byrd,
Moby Grape,
Simply Red,
David Axelrod,
Television Personalities,
Marmalade,
Cymande,
Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes.
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.