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 Mongolia and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 Beijing and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Seeds to the grunge 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 Iggy Pop. All the underground hits.
All Drive Like Jehu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 clarinet 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 synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Coltrane,
Alton Ellis,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Soulsonic Force,
Skarface,
Freddie Wadling,
Arthur Verocai,
Moby Grape,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
E-Dancer,
The Litter,
Flipper,
James Chance & The Contortions,
JFA,
Pierre Henry,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Ice-T,
Rites of Spring,
Fat Boys,
Josef K,
The Martian,
Quando Quango,
Amazonics,
Judy Mowatt,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Five Americans,
the Slits,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
EPMD,
Main Source,
Ronnie Foster,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Blancmange,
X-102,
Crooked Eye,
Alphaville,
The Fuzztones,
David McCallum,
The Modern Lovers,
Sexual Harrassment,
Morten Harket,
Connie Case,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Joey Negro,
The Vogues,
The Saints,
Barrington Levy,
Black Moon,
Ultra Naté,
Grandmaster Flash,
Porter Ricks,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Marc Almond,
Sonic Youth,
Whodini,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco.
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.