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 Maldives and from Seoul.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Davy DMX to the dance 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Halsall tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-102 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer 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 mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Walker Brothers,
Icehouse,
The Dead C,
Kool Moe Dee,
E-Dancer,
New York Dolls,
Depeche Mode,
Andrew Hill,
Wally Richardson,
Henry Cow,
Sam Rivers,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Flipper,
Nico,
The Dave Clark Five,
Cheater Slicks,
Michelle Simonal,
Piero Umiliani,
Nik Kershaw,
10cc,
Kerrie Biddell,
Moss Icon,
The Last Poets,
Marmalade,
Isaac Hayes,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Camberwell Now,
New Order,
The Saints,
Gichy Dan,
Big Daddy Kane,
Shoche,
the Normal,
Basic Channel,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Blackbyrds,
Jeff Lynne,
Skarface,
Rakim,
H. Thieme,
D'Angelo,
Skriet,
Terry Callier,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
June of 44,
Organ,
48th St. Collective,
Tim Buckley,
The Star Department,
Tom Boy,
These Immortal Souls,
Radiohead,
Mandrill,
Bootsy Collins,
Technova,
Funky Four + One,
The Gap Band,
Robert Görl,
Inner City,
Lou Christie,
Television Personalities,
Al Stewart,
Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon.
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.