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 Jamaica and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Pretty Things to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Nico. All the underground hits.
All Arab on Radar tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Byrd 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 a marimba and a snare 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 synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aural Exciters,
New Age Steppers,
June of 44,
Accadde A,
Motorama,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lungfish,
MDC,
Banda Bassotti,
B.T. Express,
The Motions,
Khruangbin,
Letta Mbulu,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Groovy Waters,
Nirvana,
Shuggie Otis,
Cheater Slicks,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Japan,
Kerri Chandler,
Whodini,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pet Shop Boys,
Leonard Cohen,
Inner City,
Lindisfarne,
Spandau Ballet,
Chris & Cosey,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Blancmange,
Liliput,
UT,
Aaron Thompson,
Ultimate Spinach,
John Lydon,
Althea and Donna,
Howard Jones,
Kayak,
The Human League,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
James White and The Blacks,
The Fire Engines,
Quadrant,
Fat Boys,
Prince Buster,
The Divine Comedy,
Sexual Harrassment,
In Retrospect,
Sister Nancy,
Scientists,
Steve Hackett,
Robert Wyatt,
Boogie Down Productions,
Crispy Ambulance,
Roger Hodgson,
The Martian,
PIL,
The Angels of Light,
Zapp,
Skaos,
Gil Scott Heron,
Pantytec,
Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine.
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.