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 Algeria and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 oboe 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 The Shadows of Knight to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Selector Dub Narcotic. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cowsills 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet 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 an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
London Community Gospel Choir,
Joe Finger,
Ronan,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Sugar Minott,
Marshall Jefferson,
Crime,
Max Romeo,
Gang of Four,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Excepter,
Cal Tjader,
Chrome,
Kayak,
John Coltrane,
Eric Dolphy,
Magazine,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lalann,
Urselle,
Stetsasonic,
Tres Demented,
Man Parrish,
Soul II Soul,
Ralphi Rosario,
MC5,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
the Association,
John Cale,
The Barracudas,
In Retrospect,
Lightning Bolt,
Lebanon Hanover,
Country Joe & The Fish,
K-Klass,
Boogie Down Productions,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Mad Mike,
Moss Icon,
Mantronix,
Spandau Ballet,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Albert Ayler,
Eric Copeland,
The Velvet Underground,
Ossler,
The Raincoats,
Ludus,
Barbara Tucker,
Althea and Donna,
The Gladiators,
Brand Nubian,
Ponytail,
Gang Gang Dance,
Trumans Water,
Nils Olav,
Rites of Spring,
Arab on Radar,
Scan 7,
Cecil Taylor,
Junior Murvin,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.