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 Somalia and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Albert Ayler to the rock 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 Cal Tjader. All the underground hits.
All Suburban Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Count Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 chamberlin and a theremin 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 rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The United States of America,
Fear,
Mission of Burma,
the Slits,
Second Layer,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Wings,
This Heat,
Gerry Rafferty,
Barbara Tucker,
Gang of Four,
Eddi Front,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
F. McDonald,
The Real Kids,
Rakim,
Skaos,
Delta 5,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Scrapy,
Interpol,
Harmonia,
John Holt,
Sällskapet,
Brand Nubian,
Darondo,
Byron Stingily,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Monks,
The Techniques,
Unrelated Segments,
Derrick May,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Charles Mingus,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Idris Muhammad,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Crash Course in Science,
Thee Headcoats,
Shuggie Otis,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Echospace,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Beau Brummels,
Accadde A,
Jeff Lynne,
Todd Terry,
Peter and Kerry,
The Mojo Men,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
John Coltrane,
Nico,
Magazine,
Sonny Sharrock,
Pantytec,
Index,
Lungfish,
The Happenings,
Cluster,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti.
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.