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 Libya and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Alphaville to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 DJ Style. All the underground hits.
All X-Ray Spex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Age Steppers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ 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 oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moebius,
Cymande,
Joy Division,
Joe Finger,
Joyce Sims,
Pulsallama,
Jacques Brel,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Offenders,
Zero Boys,
Fela Kuti,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
the Association,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Blues Magoos,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Throbbing Gristle,
Pylon,
Gabor Szabo,
Marcia Griffiths,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Dead C,
Outsiders,
Crooked Eye,
Traffic Nightmare,
Terry Callier,
Wolf Eyes,
Don Cherry,
the Slits,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
8 Eyed Spy,
Susan Cadogan,
The Divine Comedy,
Panda Bear,
Amazonics,
Icehouse,
Ten City,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Quantec,
Silicon Teens,
Crash Course in Science,
The Gories,
Motorama,
Yusef Lateef,
Amon Düül,
Khruangbin,
Nation of Ulysses,
Faraquet,
Nas,
Kurtis Blow,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Moleskins,
Scrapy,
Brass Construction,
Animal Collective,
The Slackers,
Delta 5,
Ludus,
Robert Hood,
Bad Manners,
John Coltrane,
K-Klass, K-Klass, K-Klass, K-Klass.
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.