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 Kenya and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Tehran.
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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Prince Buster to the disco 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 Eric Dolphy. All the underground hits.
All June of 44 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kenny Larkin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes 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 chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Byrd,
Q and Not U,
H. Thieme,
Crooked Eye,
MC5,
Grandmaster Flash,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Funkadelic,
Model 500,
John Lydon,
Barbara Tucker,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Kaleidoscope,
Ohio Players,
Organ,
The Beau Brummels,
Franke,
UT,
Joey Negro,
The Sonics,
Cheater Slicks,
Motorama,
Pulsallama,
Roxette,
Bronski Beat,
Black Flag,
CMW,
Max Romeo,
The Pop Group,
Flash Fearless,
Das Ding,
Minor Threat,
Don Cherry,
Altered Images,
Talk Talk,
The Sound,
Pet Shop Boys,
Erykah Badu,
Spoonie Gee,
Johnny Clarke,
Soul II Soul,
Urselle,
MDC,
Archie Shepp,
Magma,
Echospace,
Eli Mardock,
Judy Mowatt,
Quadrant,
Lyres,
Lightning Bolt,
Stockholm Monsters,
Mantronix,
Big Daddy Kane,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Matthew Halsall,
Barry Ungar,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
U.S. Maple,
The Electric Prunes,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Arthur Verocai,
Letta Mbulu,
Faraquet,
Amazonics, Amazonics, Amazonics, Amazonics.
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.