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 Portugal and from Copenhagen.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the güiro 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 Nils Olav to the disco 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 Negative Approach. All the underground hits.
All Main Source tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Chocolate Watch Band 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a theremin 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 chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Curtis Mayfield,
Suburban Knight,
The Kinks,
The Gap Band,
Peter and Kerry,
Drexciya,
Sällskapet,
Jandek,
Tubeway Army,
Country Teasers,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Robert Görl,
Bobby Sherman,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Freddie Wadling,
The Saints,
Grandmaster Flash,
U.S. Maple,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
CMW,
The Neon Judgement,
Morten Harket,
Stetsasonic,
Oblivians,
ABC,
Black Bananas,
Marc Almond,
Qualms,
Ken Boothe,
Aloha Tigers,
Judy Mowatt,
Donald Byrd,
Ohio Players,
OOIOO,
Pylon,
Livin' Joy,
Brand Nubian,
The Selecter,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Jawbox,
Crash Course in Science,
The Young Rascals,
Blossom Toes,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Smog,
Television Personalities,
Wasted Youth,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
D'Angelo,
Swans,
Visage,
Pantaleimon,
Lower 48,
Althea and Donna,
Brick,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Wake,
Con Funk Shun,
Gang of Four,
Mo-Dettes, Mo-Dettes, Mo-Dettes, Mo-Dettes.
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.