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 Samoa and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Cluster to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Grey Daturas. All the underground hits.
All The Pretty Things tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 rhodes and a theremin 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 rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Al Stewart,
Royal Trux,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
cv313,
One Last Wish,
Negative Approach,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Fela Kuti,
Crispy Ambulance,
New Age Steppers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
LL Cool J,
Chrome,
The Gap Band,
the Bar-Kays,
Man Eating Sloth,
Black Flag,
Jeff Lynne,
Janne Schatter,
The Move,
Davy DMX,
The Pop Group,
Neil Young,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Gang of Four,
X-Ray Spex,
Pylon,
Tom Boy,
Stereo Dub,
Organ,
Pierre Henry,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Parry Music,
Marine Girls,
a-ha,
Monolake,
Slave,
The Grass Roots,
Fad Gadget,
Arab on Radar,
Stiv Bators,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Remains,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Johnny Osbourne,
Dead Boys,
Dawn Penn,
Grandmaster Flash,
Alice Coltrane,
Crash Course in Science,
The Smiths,
Ituana,
The United States of America,
Mantronix,
Nik Kershaw,
Yaz,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Human League,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band.
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.