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 Eritrea and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 spring reverb 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 Patti Smith to the disco 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 Rosa Yemen. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kayak 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a guitar 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 clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Knickerbockers,
Lalo Schifrin,
Swell Maps,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Public Image Ltd.,
K-Klass,
Roxette,
Avey Tare,
Au Pairs,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Yaz,
John Lydon,
Young Marble Giants,
Reuben Wilson,
Donald Byrd,
Hoover,
Alison Limerick,
Dorothy Ashby,
Quantec,
Loose Ends,
Surgeon,
Quadrant,
Dead Boys,
Warren Ellis,
Neil Young,
Rakim,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Aaron Thompson,
DNA,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Misunderstood,
The Fortunes,
Intrusion,
Brothers Johnson,
Kerrie Biddell,
Robert Görl,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Freddie Wadling,
Cymande,
The Moody Blues,
The Red Krayola,
The Velvet Underground,
The Blues Magoos,
Ohio Players,
Nation of Ulysses,
Sound Behaviour,
Saccharine Trust,
Blossom Toes,
10cc,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Siglo XX,
Bluetip,
The Happenings,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Dead C,
The Music Machine,
Sixth Finger,
Sarah Menescal,
The Toasters,
Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters.
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.