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 Sweden and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Nick Fraelich to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Public Image Ltd.. All the underground hits.
All Soulsonic Force tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin 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 linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flipper,
Ossler,
Loose Ends,
Spoonie Gee,
Gil Scott Heron,
Model 500,
Gang Green,
Joyce Sims,
In Retrospect,
Drive Like Jehu,
Liliput,
Sight & Sound,
The Gun Club,
Chris Corsano,
Symarip,
Sandy B,
Slick Rick,
Section 25,
Cymande,
Connie Case,
The Blackbyrds,
Soul II Soul,
Eli Mardock,
John Holt,
The Angels of Light,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Ken Boothe,
The Leaves,
Fela Kuti,
Country Teasers,
Kayak,
The Velvet Underground,
Sonic Youth,
Marshall Jefferson,
Girls At Our Best!,
AZ,
The Flesh Eaters,
OOIOO,
Minor Threat,
Alison Limerick,
Amon Düül II,
The American Breed,
Electric Prunes,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
This Heat,
Lalo Schifrin,
Crooked Eye,
Fluxion,
The Invisible,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Misunderstood,
Avey Tare,
Jeff Mills,
The Raincoats,
Aloha Tigers,
the Swans,
Wolf Eyes,
Main Source,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Outsiders,
Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton.
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.