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 Ivory Coast and from Houston.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the güiro 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 Theoretical Girls to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Gang Green. All the underground hits.
All Chris & Cosey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Hutcherson 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes 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 oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Newcleus,
The Count Five,
Dawn Penn,
Joey Negro,
Black Moon,
Erykah Badu,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Mo-Dettes,
Bush Tetras,
Country Teasers,
Reuben Wilson,
Freddie Wadling,
cv313,
Hasil Adkins,
The Names,
The Litter,
JFA,
the Swans,
Marc Almond,
Crash Course in Science,
Eve St. Jones,
The Electric Prunes,
Man Eating Sloth,
Organ,
Laurel Aitken,
Kaleidoscope,
Stetsasonic,
Public Enemy,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
ABC,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Flesh Eaters,
Los Fastidios,
The Mojo Men,
The Offenders,
Joyce Sims,
Marvin Gaye,
Darondo,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ten City,
Japan,
Mr. Review,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
MC5,
Amon Düül II,
Crispy Ambulance,
Neu!,
Barbara Tucker,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Albert Ayler,
The Human League,
The Red Krayola,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Al Stewart,
Bill Near,
Brand Nubian,
Smog,
Monolake,
CMW,
Liliput,
Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses.
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.