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 Costa Rica and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Seoul.
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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Lonnie Liston Smith to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Fatback Band. All the underground hits.
All Radio Birdman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dirtbombs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a linndrum 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 guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Peter & Gordon,
Aural Exciters,
Amon Düül II,
Sexual Harrassment,
Mary Jane Girls,
DNA,
The Slackers,
Fatback Band,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Cal Tjader,
Danielle Patucci,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Kas Product,
Swans,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Urselle,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Smiths,
The Sonics,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Doors,
Derrick May,
Dual Sessions,
The Dirtbombs,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Erykah Badu,
Ituana,
Khruangbin,
Mandrill,
Judy Mowatt,
Flash Fearless,
Second Layer,
Josef K,
The Electric Prunes,
Piero Umiliani,
Popol Vuh,
The Misunderstood,
Eric B and Rakim,
This Heat,
Trumans Water,
Lou Christie,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Pop Group,
Faraquet,
B.T. Express,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Angels of Light,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Malaria!,
The Raincoats,
X-102,
Tim Buckley,
David Axelrod,
Schoolly D,
Sister Nancy,
EPMD,
Aaron Thompson,
Soft Machine,
Agent Orange,
T.S.O.L.,
The Litter,
Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler.
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.