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 Kosovo and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in 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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Kevin Saunderson. All the underground hits.
All Yellowson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Accadde A 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet 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 güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
China Crisis,
Pussy Galore,
Funkadelic,
New York Dolls,
Max Romeo,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Sound,
Bobby Sherman,
PIL,
Ronnie Foster,
Radiohead,
Rakim,
ABC,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bauhaus,
Au Pairs,
Cal Tjader,
Moebius,
The Motions,
The Tremeloes,
The Pretty Things,
The Birthday Party,
Supertramp,
Heaven 17,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Fatback Band,
Gerry Rafferty,
Jacob Miller,
Flash Fearless,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Rhythm & Sound,
This Heat,
DNA,
Minutemen,
Khruangbin,
Sällskapet,
The Angels of Light,
Rod Modell,
Nick Fraelich,
Babytalk,
Lakeside,
John Coltrane,
Spoonie Gee,
the Normal,
Model 500,
Bizarre Inc.,
Archie Shepp,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Marmalade,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Throbbing Gristle,
Malaria!,
The Cramps,
Brass Construction,
Guru Guru,
The Misunderstood,
Gastr Del Sol,
Mad Mike,
The Residents,
the Swans,
Silicon Teens, Silicon Teens, Silicon Teens, Silicon Teens.
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.