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 Dominican Republic and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 Salvador and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Electric Prunes to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All Interpol tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Detroit Cobras 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare 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 organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smoke,
Subhumans,
Sonic Youth,
Symarip,
Wire,
The Red Krayola,
Mandrill,
The Saints,
Blancmange,
Drexciya,
Kerrie Biddell,
Zero Boys,
The Stooges,
Moby Grape,
Erykah Badu,
Cluster,
Albert Ayler,
Rhythm & Sound,
Todd Rundgren,
Carl Craig,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pantytec,
Ludus,
Cal Tjader,
Ten City,
Donny Hathaway,
Scan 7,
Bad Manners,
The Doors,
Niagra,
The Alarm Clocks,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Zeros,
The Fire Engines,
Bluetip,
E-Dancer,
CMW,
Liliput,
Kas Product,
Los Fastidios,
Stereo Dub,
The Gun Club,
Theoretical Girls,
Sound Behaviour,
The Doobie Brothers,
Ken Boothe,
Sight & Sound,
Make Up,
Half Japanese,
Soft Machine,
Eve St. Jones,
Kenny Larkin,
Yusef Lateef,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Residents,
Isaac Hayes,
the Germs,
Unwound,
Todd Terry,
Lakeside,
the Association,
Nas, Nas, Nas, Nas.
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.