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 Lebanon and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Basic Channel to the rap 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 Bootsy's Rubber Band. All the underground hits.
All Spandau Ballet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a snare 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 snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barry Ungar,
The United States of America,
Lou Reed,
Robert Hood,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Peter and Kerry,
Khruangbin,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Andrew Hill,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Kinks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
EPMD,
F. McDonald,
David Bowie,
Alphaville,
This Heat,
the Soft Cell,
The Knickerbockers,
Deadbeat,
The Fortunes,
Todd Rundgren,
Idris Muhammad,
Wally Richardson,
Leonard Cohen,
Brick,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Alice Coltrane,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Gabor Szabo,
The Monochrome Set,
Joensuu 1685,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Flamin' Groovies,
Bronski Beat,
Rapeman,
Section 25,
Oblivians,
Moby Grape,
Dead Boys,
Masters at Work,
World's Most,
Mars,
Blancmange,
ABC,
Desert Stars,
Kaleidoscope,
Supertramp,
Delta 5,
The Sonics,
Soft Cell,
The Sound,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Black Flag,
Malaria!,
Blossom Toes,
Das Ding,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Mad Mike,
The Modern Lovers,
Tropical Tobacco,
Scientists,
Jeff Lynne,
Be Bop Deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe.
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.