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 Turkey and from Johannesburg.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Monks to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson. All the underground hits.
All Q and Not U tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Infiniti 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord 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 guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Finger,
Pole,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Todd Rundgren,
Steve Hackett,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Shuggie Otis,
Lower 48,
Cymande,
Rufus Thomas,
Clear Light,
Wolf Eyes,
Anakelly,
Sound Behaviour,
Jimmy McGriff,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Black Bananas,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Mission of Burma,
Glambeats Corp.,
Bobby Sherman,
The Stooges,
New Order,
Main Source,
Black Pus,
MC5,
Godley & Creme,
The Velvet Underground,
Basic Channel,
Gerry Rafferty,
Stockholm Monsters,
Eyeless In Gaza,
One Last Wish,
Roxy Music,
Underground Resistance,
Absolute Body Control,
The Five Americans,
Roxette,
Thee Headcoats,
Maleditus Sound,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Gories,
Magazine,
Tim Buckley,
The Golliwogs,
Sex Pistols,
Index,
Hot Snakes,
The Residents,
Cecil Taylor,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Talk Talk,
Black Moon,
Charles Mingus,
ABC,
Dual Sessions,
Eric B and Rakim,
Jawbox,
Matthew Bourne,
Masters at Work,
Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian.
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.