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 Romania and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the theremin 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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Popol Vuh tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mars 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron 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 marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fugs,
Soulsonic Force,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Star Department,
the Normal,
Zapp,
The Birthday Party,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Pharoah Sanders,
Sparks,
Symarip,
ABBA,
One Last Wish,
KRS-One,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Nik Kershaw,
Ronan,
Black Sheep,
Public Enemy,
B.T. Express,
Matthew Bourne,
Neil Young,
Scrapy,
Idris Muhammad,
The American Breed,
Deadbeat,
Stereo Dub,
Toni Rubio,
Terry Callier,
Erykah Badu,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Television,
Todd Terry,
The Busters,
Judy Mowatt,
Letta Mbulu,
Bizarre Inc.,
Little Man,
Banda Bassotti,
The Techniques,
Wings,
ABC,
R.M.O.,
Mark Hollis,
Leonard Cohen,
Minutemen,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Connie Case,
Glambeats Corp.,
Blake Baxter,
Public Image Ltd.,
Archie Shepp,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Durutti Column,
David McCallum,
Cecil Taylor,
In Retrospect,
Adolescents,
Magazine,
Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell.
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.