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 Burundi and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the organ 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 Cecil Taylor to the disco 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 Yusef Lateef. All the underground hits.
All London Community Gospel Choir tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minnie Riperton 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a synthesizer 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 spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marshall Jefferson,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Rakim,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Dead Boys,
Cheater Slicks,
Al Stewart,
Curtis Mayfield,
Television,
Gong,
Fear,
The Red Krayola,
Cal Tjader,
Barrington Levy,
Dennis Brown,
K-Klass,
Mandrill,
The Dead C,
John Cale,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Magma,
Terry Callier,
Television Personalities,
Minutemen,
Rotary Connection,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Bill Wells,
DNA,
The Mummies,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Sällskapet,
Youth Brigade,
Tim Buckley,
Nik Kershaw,
Electric Prunes,
Tres Demented,
Todd Terry,
The Gun Club,
Howard Jones,
The Index,
CMW,
Lower 48,
The Standells,
Basic Channel,
Rosa Yemen,
Bob Dylan,
Dual Sessions,
Dorothy Ashby,
Yellowson,
The Angels of Light,
Arcadia,
Radiohead,
The Doors,
Gregory Isaacs,
H. Thieme,
Eden Ahbez,
The Fire Engines,
Lakeside,
Vainqueur,
The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers.
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.