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 Serbia and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the organ 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 Black Flag to the disco 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 Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch. All the underground hits.
All Japan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aloha Tigers 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro 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 chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mojo Men,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Crooked Eye,
Black Flag,
The Residents,
Shoche,
Monolake,
Slick Rick,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Kinks,
Guru Guru,
Ponytail,
Sandy B,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Television,
David Axelrod,
Simply Red,
Nick Fraelich,
T. Rex,
Minutemen,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Arthur Verocai,
Massinfluence,
Young Marble Giants,
The Skatalites,
Fear,
Siglo XX,
Anakelly,
Glenn Branca,
Derrick Morgan,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Scion,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Sex Pistols,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Wolf Eyes,
Morten Harket,
Pylon,
The Last Poets,
Scrapy,
Gang Starr,
the Association,
Al Stewart,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Jerry's Kids,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Associates,
Von Mondo,
The Fugs,
Cybotron,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Hot Snakes,
E-Dancer,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Tubeway Army,
The Busters,
Joe Smooth,
Jeru the Damaja,
Outsiders,
June Days,
Crash Course in Science,
LL Cool J, LL Cool J, LL Cool J, LL Cool J.
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.