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 Grenada and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 This Heat 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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All ABBA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 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 theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brothers Johnson,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Crime,
Groovy Waters,
Leonard Cohen,
The Stooges,
The Birthday Party,
Pharoah Sanders,
Avey Tare,
Babytalk,
Oblivians,
Roy Ayers,
Althea and Donna,
Ice-T,
Gang Starr,
The Misunderstood,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bang On A Can,
Barclay James Harvest,
June of 44,
Rapeman,
The Real Kids,
Bill Wells,
Von Mondo,
The Moleskins,
Hasil Adkins,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Neil Young,
Public Enemy,
Ultravox,
Maurizio,
The Associates,
Robert Wyatt,
The Fall,
Cal Tjader,
Fat Boys,
New Age Steppers,
Gang Green,
Guru Guru,
The Smiths,
Con Funk Shun,
Ituana,
Chris & Cosey,
Stetsasonic,
Section 25,
The Shadows of Knight,
Joe Finger,
Blake Baxter,
48th St. Collective,
The Knickerbockers,
Magazine,
Tommy Roe,
A Certain Ratio,
Boogie Down Productions,
Letta Mbulu,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Pere Ubu,
Jerry's Kids,
Joe Smooth,
R.M.O.,
Clear Light,
FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit.
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.