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 Haiti and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the oboe 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 Nation of Ulysses to the electroclash 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 The Pop Group. All the underground hits.
All De La Soul & Jungle Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Techniques,
The Slackers,
the Slits,
The Last Poets,
the Normal,
Sarah Menescal,
Brick,
Crispian St. Peters,
Eric Copeland,
Derrick Morgan,
Roxy Music,
The Black Dice,
The Busters,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Sound,
Joensuu 1685,
Vladislav Delay,
Bobby Sherman,
Joyce Sims,
Circle Jerks,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Desert Stars,
the Swans,
Dark Day,
Sex Pistols,
Cal Tjader,
Public Image Ltd.,
Amon Düül II,
Yusef Lateef,
10cc,
Ralphi Rosario,
Donald Byrd,
Yellowson,
Trumans Water,
Jerry's Kids,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Panda Bear,
Minnie Riperton,
DNA,
Todd Rundgren,
The Martian,
Flash Fearless,
Joe Finger,
Mars,
Goldenarms,
Ultimate Spinach,
Gregory Isaacs,
Terrestrial Tones,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Warren Ellis,
Marmalade,
Jesper Dahlback,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Ossler,
Kerrie Biddell,
Buzzcocks,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ronnie Foster,
James Chance & The Contortions,
the Sonics,
A Certain Ratio,
Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson.
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.