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 Cape Verde and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Taipei.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Josef K to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Carl Craig. All the underground hits.
All Heavy D & The Boyz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb 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 theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Beasts of Bourbon,
Television Personalities,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Pylon,
Funky Four + One,
Gong,
Lindisfarne,
Kerri Chandler,
The Star Department,
Barry Ungar,
John Holt,
Black Moon,
kango's stein massive,
Gang Starr,
Ossler,
Black Flag,
Make Up,
Andrew Hill,
Flipper,
Eve St. Jones,
The Cramps,
Brass Construction,
Crash Course in Science,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Goldenarms,
Johnny Clarke,
Aswad,
Big Daddy Kane,
cv313,
ABC,
Agitation Free,
The Stooges,
10cc,
Yellowson,
Saccharine Trust,
Sandy B,
Jeff Lynne,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Names,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Half Japanese,
Desert Stars,
Duran Duran,
Danielle Patucci,
Average White Band,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Raincoats,
Harpers Bizarre,
Camouflage,
Inner City,
Mars,
The American Breed,
Malaria!,
Jeff Mills,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sight & Sound,
Juan Atkins,
Infiniti,
Metal Thangz,
Essential Logic,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Last Poets,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.