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 Iceland and from Mexico City.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Philadelphia.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Flipper to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Chrome. All the underground hits.
All Lafayette Afro Rock Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every AZ record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 a clarinet and an oboe 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 güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang of Four,
Circle Jerks,
Josef K,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Bad Manners,
Be Bop Deluxe,
FM Einheit,
Second Layer,
Franke,
These Immortal Souls,
Cameo,
Minor Threat,
Faraquet,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Thompson Twins,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
K-Klass,
Quando Quango,
Dead Boys,
John Cale,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Lyres,
Hashim,
The Misunderstood,
Michelle Simonal,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Alison Limerick,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Roxy Music,
The Grass Roots,
Camouflage,
Bill Near,
Byron Stingily,
The Names,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Mandrill,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Funkadelic,
Soul Sonic Force,
Fatback Band,
Bob Dylan,
Eve St. Jones,
June Days,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Massinfluence,
Grauzone,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mission of Burma,
Sun Ra,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Kaleidoscope,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Henry Cow,
Dennis Brown,
E-Dancer,
Erykah Badu,
The Martian,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Mr. Review,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
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.