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 Bahrain and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Nik Kershaw to the jazz 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 Monolake. All the underground hits.
All Cheater Slicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joensuu 1685 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 theremin and an oboe 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 guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Modern Lovers,
Organ,
Youth Brigade,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Q65,
Surgeon,
The Slits,
Goldenarms,
Hot Snakes,
Eric Copeland,
The Selecter,
The Moody Blues,
Stereo Dub,
Bush Tetras,
Ituana,
Prince Buster,
The Velvet Underground,
Siglo XX,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
KRS-One,
The Dead C,
Mission of Burma,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Jesper Dahlback,
Andrew Hill,
Flamin' Groovies,
Black Sheep,
Qualms,
Ponytail,
Smog,
Fat Boys,
Rotary Connection,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Buzzcocks,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Talk Talk,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Quantec,
Flipper,
Scientists,
Minny Pops,
T.S.O.L.,
Inner City,
JFA,
Pantytec,
The Human League,
Isaac Hayes,
Sparks,
Vladislav Delay,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Joy Division,
Rites of Spring,
Wolf Eyes,
Johnny Clarke,
The Moleskins,
Eurythmics,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.