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 Liberia and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the theremin 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 The Blackbyrds to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Gil Scott Heron. All the underground hits.
All Godley & Creme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every David Axelrod record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 a rhodes and a synthesizer 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?
Ludus,
Sister Nancy,
The Smoke,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Cure,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Crooked Eye,
Bobby Byrd,
The Selecter,
The Fire Engines,
Ponytail,
Ronan,
Intrusion,
Reagan Youth,
Lower 48,
Al Stewart,
L. Decosne,
One Last Wish,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Guru Guru,
Cybotron,
Joensuu 1685,
Eli Mardock,
The Motions,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Yaz,
Echospace,
The Skatalites,
Fela Kuti,
OOIOO,
Charles Mingus,
Desert Stars,
John Cale,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Josef K,
Tears for Fears,
Zero Boys,
Don Cherry,
The Electric Prunes,
Niagra,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
John Holt,
KRS-One,
Aural Exciters,
Trumans Water,
Joyce Sims,
U.S. Maple,
Albert Ayler,
Spoonie Gee,
Erykah Badu,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Black Bananas,
Scientists,
The Smiths,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Newcleus,
Jandek,
The Durutti Column,
The Blackbyrds,
Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic.
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.