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 Costa Rica and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Judy Mowatt to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Lebanon Hanover. All the underground hits.
All Panda Bear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every kango's stein massive record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Al Stewart,
Sugar Minott,
Wings,
The Monochrome Set,
The Sound,
MC5,
Dual Sessions,
Pet Shop Boys,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bad Manners,
Reagan Youth,
Soft Cell,
Smog,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Residents,
T.S.O.L.,
Godley & Creme,
The Seeds,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Grandmaster Flash,
Soul II Soul,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Arthur Verocai,
John Lydon,
Country Teasers,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Severed Heads,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Black Pus,
The Human League,
Dark Day,
X-101,
The Leaves,
Rekid,
Black Bananas,
Agent Orange,
Don Cherry,
Frankie Knuckles,
Derrick Morgan,
World's Most,
Eric B and Rakim,
Carl Craig,
Au Pairs,
Chrome,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Kool Moe Dee,
Mantronix,
Danielle Patucci,
The Misunderstood,
Black Sheep,
The Sonics,
Erasure,
the Bar-Kays,
Radiohead,
Fear,
Oneida,
Ludus,
Monolake,
Althea and Donna,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Saints,
Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül.
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.