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 Kazakhstan and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Magazine to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lalo Schifrin. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum 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 arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Saints,
The J.B.'s,
Sight & Sound,
Drexciya,
Sarah Menescal,
Sugar Minott,
Pantaleimon,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
EPMD,
Absolute Body Control,
Chrome,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
China Crisis,
Ossler,
Frankie Knuckles,
UT,
A Certain Ratio,
The Wake,
Qualms,
Camberwell Now,
Liliput,
Outsiders,
Cabaret Voltaire,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Sun City Girls,
Audionom,
Rufus Thomas,
Japan,
The Litter,
Banda Bassotti,
Don Cherry,
Funkadelic,
Shuggie Otis,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Smiths,
Stetsasonic,
These Immortal Souls,
Pantytec,
KRS-One,
Junior Murvin,
Davy DMX,
Soulsonic Force,
Josef K,
Sixth Finger,
The Tremeloes,
The Seeds,
The Pretty Things,
Kerri Chandler,
The Doors,
The Searchers,
DNA,
The Velvet Underground,
Man Eating Sloth,
H. Thieme,
Rotary Connection,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Underground Resistance,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Kinks,
Ten City,
the Swans, the Swans, the Swans, the Swans.
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.