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 Uganda and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Aural Exciters to the grunge 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 The Neon Judgement. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Soft Cell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a chamberlin 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 chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Cameo,
Gang Starr,
The Grass Roots,
The Skatalites,
Piero Umiliani,
June of 44,
David McCallum,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Aural Exciters,
Panda Bear,
The Fuzztones,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Detroit Cobras,
Blake Baxter,
Crash Course in Science,
Sparks,
The Buckinghams,
Television,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Gladiators,
Crispy Ambulance,
Royal Trux,
Pole,
the Soft Cell,
Erykah Badu,
The Toasters,
Buzzcocks,
Duran Duran,
Gang of Four,
Lebanon Hanover,
Sugar Minott,
Slave,
Nick Fraelich,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Tres Demented,
Marine Girls,
Steve Hackett,
Inner City,
Liliput,
D'Angelo,
Laurel Aitken,
Animal Collective,
Pere Ubu,
The Techniques,
Boredoms,
Althea and Donna,
Flamin' Groovies,
Nils Olav,
Scientists,
John Coltrane,
Ten City,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Suburban Knight,
Guru Guru,
Kaleidoscope,
Radiohead,
Glambeats Corp.,
Derrick Morgan,
Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear.
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.