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 the UAE and from Sao Paulo.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the guitar 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 Groovy Waters to the funk 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 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson. All the underground hits.
All Alice Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mojo Men record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 synthesizer and an arpeggiator 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 güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joy Division,
Susan Cadogan,
Country Teasers,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Dave Gahan,
Fad Gadget,
The Gories,
Lalann,
Liliput,
Spandau Ballet,
Drexciya,
Deakin,
the Normal,
Boogie Down Productions,
Arcadia,
Stereo Dub,
Surgeon,
Fatback Band,
The Toasters,
Brothers Johnson,
Radiohead,
Sixth Finger,
T.S.O.L.,
Pylon,
Neil Young,
Ponytail,
Outsiders,
Kayak,
Robert Wyatt,
Underground Resistance,
The Angels of Light,
OOIOO,
Ten City,
Kool Moe Dee,
Soft Cell,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
AZ,
Skaos,
Scrapy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Delon & Dalcan,
Sandy B,
a-ha,
Sonny Sharrock,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Tomorrow,
The Moody Blues,
Glambeats Corp.,
Mad Mike,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Blackbyrds,
DJ Sneak,
Swans,
Mr. Review,
Tropical Tobacco,
Television Personalities,
PIL,
Pere Ubu,
Rekid,
Deepchord,
the Swans,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.