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 Haiti and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Young Marble Giants to the jazz 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 Siglo XX. All the underground hits.
All Fad Gadget tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harpers Bizarre 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 mellotron 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 marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sarah Menescal,
Minny Pops,
Eve St. Jones,
Angry Samoans,
LL Cool J,
China Crisis,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Drexciya,
R.M.O.,
Barrington Levy,
Amazonics,
Maurizio,
June of 44,
The Real Kids,
Mandrill,
Barclay James Harvest,
Terry Callier,
Banda Bassotti,
Half Japanese,
Janne Schatter,
The Golliwogs,
Pylon,
Nas,
The Seeds,
Quadrant,
Pierre Henry,
The Dave Clark Five,
the Fania All-Stars,
Tomorrow,
The Stooges,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Bronski Beat,
KRS-One,
Slick Rick,
Reagan Youth,
Parry Music,
X-Ray Spex,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Joensuu 1685,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Cluster,
Cecil Taylor,
Cameo,
David Bowie,
Connie Case,
Black Bananas,
Fela Kuti,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Chris & Cosey,
Bluetip,
Wolf Eyes,
Minutemen,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
the Association,
Panda Bear,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Monks,
Godley & Creme,
The Black Dice,
Marshall Jefferson,
Roy Ayers,
Sun City Girls,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.