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 Bhutan and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Edmonton.
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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the sitar 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 Slave to the rock 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 The Gap Band. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gastr Del Sol 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe 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 guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
New York Dolls,
Hashim,
X-Ray Spex,
Aloha Tigers,
Kayak,
Barclay James Harvest,
Royal Trux,
Kool Moe Dee,
Steve Hackett,
Soft Cell,
Bill Near,
Sam Rivers,
Grauzone,
New Order,
Theoretical Girls,
Ohio Players,
Byron Stingily,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
the Fania All-Stars,
Skarface,
Althea and Donna,
Black Pus,
Gang Green,
Scion,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Last Poets,
Public Enemy,
Tomorrow,
KRS-One,
Mission of Burma,
Traffic Nightmare,
Section 25,
Bob Dylan,
Todd Terry,
Darondo,
10cc,
Minnie Riperton,
June of 44,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
the Association,
Adolescents,
Harmonia,
Malaria!,
Public Image Ltd.,
Erykah Badu,
Patti Smith,
Cheater Slicks,
Echospace,
The Knickerbockers,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Isaac Hayes,
Pulsallama,
Young Marble Giants,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Surgeon,
Nas,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders.
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.