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 Brunei and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Amon Düül to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Laurel Aitken. All the underground hits.
All Con Funk Shun tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amon Düül record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 guitar and a sitar 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 oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ultra Naté,
The Gap Band,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ossler,
the Normal,
Fela Kuti,
Wire,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Cure,
Excepter,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Vogues,
The Black Dice,
Albert Ayler,
Wings,
Warren Ellis,
Donny Hathaway,
The Angels of Light,
Stockholm Monsters,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Skarface,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ornette Coleman,
Carl Craig,
the Bar-Kays,
June of 44,
Grandmaster Flash,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Dirtbombs,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Jerry's Kids,
Jesper Dahlback,
Eric Copeland,
Index,
ABC,
The Dave Clark Five,
Minutemen,
Ultravox,
Audionom,
Todd Terry,
Aaron Thompson,
June Days,
Mark Hollis,
Kurtis Blow,
the Slits,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Blossom Toes,
Bluetip,
Pagans,
Scientists,
Massinfluence,
Rakim,
Fluxion,
Amazonics,
Lindisfarne,
Toni Rubio,
The Mojo Men,
Jawbox,
The Walker Brothers,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.