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 Oman and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the guitar 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 The J.B.'s to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Vaughan Mason & Crew. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 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 snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Massinfluence,
Brass Construction,
Davy DMX,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Tropical Tobacco,
Electric Prunes,
Trumans Water,
Con Funk Shun,
Quadrant,
Thompson Twins,
The Stooges,
E-Dancer,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Modern Lovers,
Animal Collective,
Gong,
Charles Mingus,
Funky Four + One,
Crispian St. Peters,
X-102,
Essential Logic,
Clear Light,
Jandek,
Echospace,
Pantaleimon,
Man Parrish,
The Standells,
Darondo,
Sun City Girls,
Loose Ends,
Grandmaster Flash,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Lou Christie,
Shuggie Otis,
Jacques Brel,
Outsiders,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Altered Images,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Little Man,
Isaac Hayes,
Eric B and Rakim,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
DJ Sneak,
Black Sheep,
Neil Young,
UT,
Pet Shop Boys,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Kevin Saunderson,
Bauhaus,
Deepchord,
June Days,
Delta 5,
Public Image Ltd.,
Beasts of Bourbon,
AZ,
Anthony Braxton,
Aaron Thompson,
Camberwell Now,
Dawn Penn,
The Blackbyrds,
Fat Boys,
Vainqueur,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.