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 Jamaica and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Lightning Bolt to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Boredoms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pulsallama 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 '60s 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 rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Porter Ricks,
The Residents,
Soul II Soul,
Swell Maps,
Thompson Twins,
Guru Guru,
Erykah Badu,
the Normal,
The Detroit Cobras,
Alice Coltrane,
Grey Daturas,
Matthew Bourne,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Unwound,
Kool Moe Dee,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Glenn Branca,
Terry Callier,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Audionom,
kango's stein massive,
E-Dancer,
Interpol,
Pylon,
Chris & Cosey,
Popol Vuh,
Organ,
Derrick May,
Intrusion,
Gil Scott Heron,
Harry Pussy,
Kerrie Biddell,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The American Breed,
Amon Düül II,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Skarface,
Jacob Miller,
The Electric Prunes,
Funkadelic,
This Heat,
Junior Murvin,
Mad Mike,
Slave,
Section 25,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
AZ,
Black Moon,
Don Cherry,
Sällskapet,
Procol Harum,
Metal Thangz,
Negative Approach,
Ultravox,
Peter and Kerry,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Arab on Radar,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Toni Rubio,
Rosa Yemen,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Stiv Bators,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.