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 Latvia and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 Milan and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Black Pus to the jazz 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 Wings. All the underground hits.
All Kool Moe Dee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultimate Spinach record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 sitar 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 chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Malaria!,
Cybotron,
Cal Tjader,
The Young Rascals,
Desert Stars,
Blancmange,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Arthur Verocai,
Second Layer,
In Retrospect,
The Smoke,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Mo-Dettes,
Nick Fraelich,
Ice-T,
Jimmy McGriff,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Offenders,
Rakim,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Yaz,
Shoche,
Half Japanese,
Althea and Donna,
Schoolly D,
Bill Near,
The Fall,
Ronnie Foster,
Rotary Connection,
the Soft Cell,
Franke,
Erykah Badu,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Section 25,
Gil Scott Heron,
Black Flag,
Monks,
Tom Boy,
Simply Red,
Kurtis Blow,
Scrapy,
Crispian St. Peters,
Jandek,
Radiohead,
Slick Rick,
Bluetip,
Bush Tetras,
John Holt,
Magazine,
Soul II Soul,
Tres Demented,
Josef K,
Reuben Wilson,
Sam Rivers,
Fear,
Bad Manners,
Joy Division,
Harmonia,
Matthew Halsall,
Deakin,
Los Fastidios,
Angry Samoans,
Wire,
The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots.
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.