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 Philippines and from Manchester.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 harpsichord 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 The Offenders 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 Spoonie Gee. All the underground hits.
All Inner City tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every OOIOO record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer 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 arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anakelly,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Scion,
Sun City Girls,
Delon & Dalcan,
Yellowson,
Sun Ra,
Brand Nubian,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Lalann,
Pagans,
Roy Ayers,
Lucky Dragons,
Man Eating Sloth,
La Düsseldorf,
Japan,
The Trojans,
The Birthday Party,
Davy DMX,
Pharoah Sanders,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Dead Boys,
Hardrive,
Bob Dylan,
The Black Dice,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Invisible,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
DJ Sneak,
Bill Near,
Man Parrish,
The Fugs,
The Misunderstood,
Donald Byrd,
Kurtis Blow,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Ultra Naté,
The Victims,
Jimmy McGriff,
Hoover,
Sandy B,
Charles Mingus,
Stiv Bators,
The Cowsills,
Bobby Sherman,
Loose Ends,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Cramps,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Stooges,
David McCallum,
Bush Tetras,
Barclay James Harvest,
X-102,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
the Swans,
Wings,
Neil Young,
The Red Krayola,
Aaron Thompson,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
John Holt, John Holt, John Holt, John Holt.
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.