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 Mongolia and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Eli Mardock to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Panda Bear. All the underground hits.
All The Invisible tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dave Clark Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an arpeggiator and a güiro 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 arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Selecter,
The American Breed,
Sarah Menescal,
Shuggie Otis,
Jerry's Kids,
X-Ray Spex,
Television,
Sound Behaviour,
Anakelly,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Moss Icon,
The Associates,
Unrelated Segments,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Girls At Our Best!,
Roger Hodgson,
The Fugs,
Rites of Spring,
Warren Ellis,
Brand Nubian,
Gastr Del Sol,
Fugazi,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bizarre Inc.,
Sam Rivers,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Barry Ungar,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Albert Ayler,
Chris & Cosey,
The Sound,
One Last Wish,
Man Eating Sloth,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Moody Blues,
Pharoah Sanders,
Minor Threat,
Nas,
CMW,
Moebius,
Underground Resistance,
Connie Case,
The J.B.'s,
Skarface,
the Bar-Kays,
Tropical Tobacco,
Terrestrial Tones,
Pierre Henry,
The Gap Band,
The Alarm Clocks,
Cymande,
Eden Ahbez,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Eric Copeland,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Ituana,
Bob Dylan,
Rekid,
The Happenings,
Qualms, Qualms, Qualms, Qualms.
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.