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 Ethiopia and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the mellotron 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 EPMD to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Marcia Griffiths. All the underground hits.
All Saccharine Trust tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Porter Ricks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a sitar 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 mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bill Near,
Jawbox,
John Cale,
Sun City Girls,
Tomorrow,
Letta Mbulu,
Amon Düül II,
The Index,
Ohio Players,
Nik Kershaw,
The Flesh Eaters,
JFA,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Girls At Our Best!,
Masters at Work,
The Buckinghams,
Throbbing Gristle,
Prince Buster,
Sound Behaviour,
Gang Green,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Stetsasonic,
The Standells,
Freddie Wadling,
Jacques Brel,
Con Funk Shun,
Al Stewart,
Gregory Isaacs,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Goldenarms,
Rod Modell,
Kaleidoscope,
Black Sheep,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Amon Düül,
Wings,
Ice-T,
Brand Nubian,
Inner City,
The Neon Judgement,
Wire,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Junior Murvin,
Joensuu 1685,
Loose Ends,
Jandek,
Eve St. Jones,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Bronski Beat,
Circle Jerks,
Ten City,
Ken Boothe,
Michelle Simonal,
Graham Central Station,
Minnie Riperton,
Nils Olav,
The Fall,
Scrapy,
Sexual Harrassment,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Techniques,
OOIOO, OOIOO, OOIOO, OOIOO.
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.