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 Ireland and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Jesper Dahlback to the crunk 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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish. All the underground hits.
All Talk Talk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Matthew Halsall 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 an arpeggiator and a chamberlin 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 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fifty Foot Hose,
Q and Not U,
AZ,
June of 44,
Public Image Ltd.,
DJ Sneak,
CMW,
Model 500,
Shuggie Otis,
Godley & Creme,
Boogie Down Productions,
Slave,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Au Pairs,
Fugazi,
Skarface,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
A Certain Ratio,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Searchers,
Gastr Del Sol,
John Holt,
Camberwell Now,
Soul II Soul,
Bill Wells,
The Shadows of Knight,
Toni Rubio,
Sam Rivers,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Boz Scaggs,
Henry Cow,
Country Teasers,
Letta Mbulu,
Kaleidoscope,
Black Flag,
Kenny Larkin,
Qualms,
David Bowie,
Throbbing Gristle,
Juan Atkins,
Los Fastidios,
Rites of Spring,
Brand Nubian,
James White and The Blacks,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Residents,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
David Axelrod,
Supertramp,
The Seeds,
Pole,
Wolf Eyes,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bush Tetras,
Barry Ungar,
Derrick Morgan,
Roger Hodgson,
Gabor Szabo,
The Techniques,
Animal Collective,
Nirvana,
Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson.
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.