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 Moldova and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Residents to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Selector Dub Narcotic. All the underground hits.
All Kas Product tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Agitation Free record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an organ 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 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Essential Logic,
Shuggie Otis,
Pierre Henry,
Zapp,
Pere Ubu,
Morten Harket,
Moebius,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Pole,
Bush Tetras,
Laurel Aitken,
E-Dancer,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Joe Smooth,
the Sonics,
Eric B and Rakim,
Scion,
The Fire Engines,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Marc Almond,
Royal Trux,
Scratch Acid,
Arcadia,
Masters at Work,
Smog,
Black Moon,
Al Stewart,
Eric Copeland,
The Gap Band,
Cameo,
China Crisis,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Golliwogs,
Livin' Joy,
David Bowie,
Khruangbin,
Rosa Yemen,
The Durutti Column,
Organ,
Monks,
Amon Düül II,
ABC,
Excepter,
The Happenings,
Nirvana,
Chrome,
Anthony Braxton,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
John Lydon,
Donny Hathaway,
Judy Mowatt,
The Smiths,
Minny Pops,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Boz Scaggs,
Marine Girls,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
James White and The Blacks,
Kool Moe Dee,
New Age Steppers,
Sun City Girls,
Boogie Down Productions,
Pagans,
The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice.
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.