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 Syria and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Sexual Harrassment to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Andrew Hill. All the underground hits.
All Magma tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yazoo 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a clarinet 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 arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Bobby Sherman,
Lee Hazlewood,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Masters at Work,
The Associates,
The Dave Clark Five,
Gerry Rafferty,
Ludus,
The Offenders,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Skatalites,
Anthony Braxton,
The Last Poets,
The Fall,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Al Stewart,
Skaos,
Rufus Thomas,
Eric Copeland,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Young Rascals,
Amon Düül II,
Gregory Isaacs,
Quantec,
The Pretty Things,
Minor Threat,
T.S.O.L.,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
CMW,
One Last Wish,
Delon & Dalcan,
Throbbing Gristle,
Tres Demented,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Soulsonic Force,
AZ,
Alphaville,
Darondo,
Brothers Johnson,
Warren Ellis,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Mojo Men,
Ultravox,
The Raincoats,
Gang Starr,
Radio Birdman,
Cameo,
Duran Duran,
EPMD,
Bush Tetras,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Ornette Coleman,
Country Joe & The Fish,
cv313,
John Coltrane,
The Busters,
Roxette,
The Red Krayola,
Arab on Radar,
Organ, Organ, Organ, Organ.
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.