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 Albania and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Ajijia Myrayebe 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 Popol Vuh. All the underground hits.
All Kerri Chandler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Groovy Waters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 chamberlin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Section 25,
48th St. Collective,
The Gap Band,
Cheater Slicks,
Crime,
The Cowsills,
Yaz,
Crash Course in Science,
Scan 7,
LL Cool J,
Man Eating Sloth,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Camberwell Now,
The Smoke,
Marine Girls,
Stetsasonic,
Tomorrow,
The Toasters,
The Walker Brothers,
Sex Pistols,
Rapeman,
Matthew Bourne,
Bobby Womack,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Camouflage,
The Selecter,
Lower 48,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Doobie Brothers,
Nirvana,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Blancmange,
EPMD,
the Normal,
Avey Tare,
The Invisible,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Sällskapet,
Panda Bear,
Nico,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Rakim,
Soft Cell,
Rekid,
Tres Demented,
Connie Case,
Main Source,
Goldenarms,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sun Ra,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lee Hazlewood,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Charles Mingus,
Procol Harum,
David Bowie,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Babytalk,
Janne Schatter,
the Soft Cell,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.