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 Morocco and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
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 Sonic Youth to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Yazoo. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar 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 snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Derrick Morgan,
Dark Day,
Sällskapet,
Pere Ubu,
Stiv Bators,
Zapp,
The Vogues,
Electric Prunes,
Howard Jones,
Mars,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Vladislav Delay,
Gang Starr,
The Grass Roots,
Von Mondo,
Ash Ra Tempel,
JFA,
Sex Pistols,
Technova,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Fugazi,
Funky Four + One,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
L. Decosne,
Au Pairs,
Jeff Mills,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Gil Scott Heron,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Curtis Mayfield,
Josef K,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Nico,
Johnny Clarke,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Rites of Spring,
Blake Baxter,
Aural Exciters,
Iggy Pop,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Dirtbombs,
Silicon Teens,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Matthew Halsall,
Hasil Adkins,
Cal Tjader,
KRS-One,
The Smoke,
David McCallum,
Quantec,
Minnie Riperton,
Bronski Beat,
Marc Almond,
Todd Rundgren,
Interpol,
The Residents,
The Detroit Cobras,
Glenn Branca,
Television Personalities,
Bizarre Inc.,
Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players.
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.