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 Bhutan and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the snare 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 The Saints to the rap 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 Joensuu 1685. All the underground hits.
All Kevin Saunderson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Birthday Party record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe 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 sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Quantec,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Monks,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
T.S.O.L.,
Heaven 17,
The Smoke,
EPMD,
Visage,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Maurizio,
Sexual Harrassment,
Porter Ricks,
Alison Limerick,
Nirvana,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Names,
Masters at Work,
Roy Ayers,
Black Flag,
Con Funk Shun,
Marvin Gaye,
Roger Hodgson,
The Blues Magoos,
Peter & Gordon,
The Gladiators,
Alphaville,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Pretty Things,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Tropical Tobacco,
Blancmange,
Surgeon,
Pharoah Sanders,
Funky Four + One,
The Toasters,
Sun Ra,
Eurythmics,
John Foxx,
Ken Boothe,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Raincoats,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Cowsills,
The Invisible,
Lalo Schifrin,
Arcadia,
Khruangbin,
Idris Muhammad,
Joe Smooth,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Buckinghams,
These Immortal Souls,
Ituana,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Unrelated Segments,
Sparks,
Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade.
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.