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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 L. Decosne to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Robert Görl. All the underground hits.
All It's A Beautiful Day tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a guitar 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 spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Spandau Ballet,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
China Crisis,
Spoonie Gee,
The Cowsills,
Todd Terry,
Can,
Erasure,
R.M.O.,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
JFA,
Cybotron,
The Happenings,
Parry Music,
New Order,
The J.B.'s,
Qualms,
Inner City,
Kurtis Blow,
Sex Pistols,
Accadde A,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Johnny Clarke,
Basic Channel,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Music Machine,
Marshall Jefferson,
Radio Birdman,
Monks,
Prince Buster,
David McCallum,
Sällskapet,
kango's stein massive,
PIL,
Alphaville,
Ronan,
Flipper,
Quadrant,
Stereo Dub,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Dual Sessions,
The Durutti Column,
Country Teasers,
Quando Quango,
Easy Going,
Colin Newman,
Infiniti,
Marmalade,
The Detroit Cobras,
Model 500,
The Motions,
The Birthday Party,
Ronnie Foster,
Q65,
Albert Ayler,
Man Parrish,
Talk Talk,
Underground Resistance,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Eve St. Jones,
Audionom,
Motorama, Motorama, Motorama, Motorama.
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.