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 Australia and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 A Flock of Seagulls to the rock 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 Kurtis Blow. All the underground hits.
All Radiopuhelimet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Searchers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 spring reverb and a harpsichord 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 clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slick Rick,
Whodini,
Joensuu 1685,
The Five Americans,
Bush Tetras,
Scratch Acid,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Donny Hathaway,
AZ,
Kurtis Blow,
The Selecter,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Monochrome Set,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Dorothy Ashby,
Visage,
Public Enemy,
Bob Dylan,
kango's stein massive,
The Offenders,
CMW,
Mandrill,
Lower 48,
Massinfluence,
Harpers Bizarre,
Organ,
The Residents,
The Music Machine,
Man Parrish,
Adolescents,
The Martian,
Sister Nancy,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Schoolly D,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Trojans,
Gong,
E-Dancer,
Pet Shop Boys,
Jerry's Kids,
Byron Stingily,
Fear,
Anthony Braxton,
Groovy Waters,
Yazoo,
Desert Stars,
Frankie Knuckles,
Jeff Lynne,
Hashim,
Gil Scott Heron,
Drexciya,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Drive Like Jehu,
Rites of Spring,
Crispian St. Peters,
Erasure, Erasure, Erasure, Erasure.
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.