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 Ghana and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 Johannesburg and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Al Stewart. All the underground hits.
All Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lalo Schifrin 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an oboe 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 theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Metal Thangz,
Grey Daturas,
Bush Tetras,
New Order,
The Blues Magoos,
Banda Bassotti,
Harmonia,
Rosa Yemen,
Rufus Thomas,
Donny Hathaway,
Funky Four + One,
Ash Ra Tempel,
the Normal,
Fela Kuti,
Prince Buster,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Agitation Free,
The Kinks,
Malaria!,
the Fania All-Stars,
Ronan,
The New Christs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ponytail,
Section 25,
Spandau Ballet,
The Music Machine,
X-102,
Minny Pops,
The Associates,
X-101,
China Crisis,
Flash Fearless,
Davy DMX,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Rotary Connection,
Slick Rick,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Agent Orange,
Pagans,
The Electric Prunes,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Litter,
Simply Red,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Sonics,
The Neon Judgement,
Angry Samoans,
Quando Quango,
The Shadows of Knight,
Bluetip,
Lungfish,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Wake,
Negative Approach,
E-Dancer,
Unwound,
Blancmange,
Nirvana,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Radiopuhelimet,
Blossom Toes,
The Move, The Move, The Move, The Move.
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.