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 Tanzania and from Shanghai.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Adolescents to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Velvet Underground. All the underground hits.
All The Move tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lightning Bolt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 marimba and a clarinet 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 a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Zeros,
Wally Richardson,
John Lydon,
Morten Harket,
Black Pus,
World's Most,
Duran Duran,
Scan 7,
Franke,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Brothers Johnson,
Qualms,
Danielle Patucci,
PIL,
OOIOO,
Anthony Braxton,
Hot Snakes,
Juan Atkins,
Lucky Dragons,
Avey Tare,
Bill Wells,
Barry Ungar,
The Electric Prunes,
The Count Five,
Procol Harum,
The Martian,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
T.S.O.L.,
Sex Pistols,
Maurizio,
Dead Boys,
Jeff Mills,
Khruangbin,
Gregory Isaacs,
Amon Düül II,
Crooked Eye,
L. Decosne,
Suburban Knight,
the Germs,
These Immortal Souls,
Alphaville,
The Black Dice,
Aswad,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sugar Minott,
Pantaleimon,
The Modern Lovers,
Jandek,
UT,
Basic Channel,
Supertramp,
New Age Steppers,
Sparks,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ronnie Foster,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Rufus Thomas,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Technova,
Tres Demented,
Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red.
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.