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 Suriname and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in .
I was there at the first Suicide show in New York.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in 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 Radio Birdman to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Trojans. All the underground hits.
All Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Birthday Party 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb 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 an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Minutemen,
Babytalk,
Erykah Badu,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
the Human League,
Barry Ungar,
Television Personalities,
Lower 48,
The Toasters,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Pulsallama,
World's Most,
Johnny Osbourne,
DJ Sneak,
Sun Ra,
Livin' Joy,
Trumans Water,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Chris & Cosey,
Joensuu 1685,
EPMD,
Funky Four + One,
Porter Ricks,
Kenny Larkin,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Alarm Clocks,
Throbbing Gristle,
Gregory Isaacs,
Delon & Dalcan,
Bizarre Inc.,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Barracudas,
Kayak,
Agitation Free,
Royal Trux,
The Gun Club,
Stereo Dub,
Johnny Clarke,
PIL,
Grauzone,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
X-102,
Parry Music,
Reuben Wilson,
Scott Walker,
John Foxx,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Young Marble Giants,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Neon Judgement,
Depeche Mode,
Todd Terry,
Nils Olav,
Marc Almond,
Charles Mingus,
Masters at Work,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Siglo XX,
Sight & Sound,
The Gories,
Leonard Cohen,
The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs.
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.