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 Macedonia and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the 808 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 Spandau Ballet to the grunge 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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Lebanon Hanover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jerry Gold Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro 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 clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Visage,
John Cale,
Lindisfarne,
The Cowsills,
Crime,
the Germs,
Curtis Mayfield,
F. McDonald,
MC5,
Ultra Naté,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Mr. Review,
The Associates,
The Last Poets,
Aswad,
Gil Scott Heron,
Cameo,
Faraquet,
Mars,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Soul Sonic Force,
Neu!,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Residents,
Lucky Dragons,
Dawn Penn,
Juan Atkins,
The Young Rascals,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Liliput,
Angry Samoans,
The Mummies,
Heaven 17,
Adolescents,
The Toasters,
Glambeats Corp.,
Stereo Dub,
Colin Newman,
Moebius,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Swell Maps,
The Human League,
Sugar Minott,
Bootsy Collins,
Excepter,
Deakin,
The Star Department,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Robert Hood,
Howard Jones,
Skaos,
Bauhaus,
Laurel Aitken,
The Slits,
Soft Cell,
The Durutti Column,
Man Parrish,
Faust,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Half Japanese,
Au Pairs,
Quantec,
Moss Icon, Moss Icon, Moss Icon, Moss Icon.
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.