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 Albania and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in 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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Glasgow.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Scion to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Tropical Tobacco. All the underground hits.
All Scratch Acid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe 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 harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alphaville,
Soft Machine,
Surgeon,
Byron Stingily,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
a-ha,
The Victims,
Barry Ungar,
Goldenarms,
The Red Krayola,
Buzzcocks,
Minnie Riperton,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Human League,
The Smoke,
Michelle Simonal,
David McCallum,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Todd Rundgren,
Ituana,
Barclay James Harvest,
Morten Harket,
The Young Rascals,
Monks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Yazoo,
Big Daddy Kane,
Agitation Free,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
ABC,
Deadbeat,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Tremeloes,
Boogie Down Productions,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Rod Modell,
Rufus Thomas,
Blossom Toes,
Nik Kershaw,
Roxette,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Gun Club,
Neil Young,
MC5,
Warren Ellis,
Suburban Knight,
Terry Callier,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Spoonie Gee,
Robert Wyatt,
Eric Copeland,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Slackers,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Stetsasonic,
Das Ding,
Jandek,
Tim Buckley,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.