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 Gambia and from Taipei.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Television to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 John Foxx. All the underground hits.
All Maurizio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kings Of Tomorrow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator 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 clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Pharoah Sanders,
Lower 48,
Los Fastidios,
Absolute Body Control,
Wire,
Delta 5,
Quadrant,
Cymande,
The Cure,
The Durutti Column,
U.S. Maple,
Unrelated Segments,
James White and The Blacks,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Black Bananas,
Wally Richardson,
The Star Department,
Flamin' Groovies,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Crispian St. Peters,
June of 44,
Neu!,
Bob Dylan,
Faraquet,
Robert Görl,
Rod Modell,
Audionom,
The Sound,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Last Poets,
Gong,
Ten City,
Little Man,
Lightning Bolt,
AZ,
Pussy Galore,
The Flesh Eaters,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Eric Copeland,
Man Parrish,
The Cowsills,
Con Funk Shun,
Kevin Saunderson,
Mad Mike,
Judy Mowatt,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Count Five,
Theoretical Girls,
Frankie Knuckles,
Terrestrial Tones,
Television Personalities,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Zapp,
Amazonics,
The Standells,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Roxy Music,
Liliput, Liliput, Liliput, Liliput.
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.