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 Macedonia and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the 808 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 The Fuzztones to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Cosmic Jokers. All the underground hits.
All The Peanut Butter Conspiracy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobbi Humphrey 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes 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 rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
Ponytail,
Amon Düül II,
Sun Ra,
Boz Scaggs,
Kool Moe Dee,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Associates,
Alphaville,
Zapp,
the Association,
Yazoo,
Dead Boys,
Infiniti,
the Sonics,
Harmonia,
The Residents,
Fela Kuti,
The Mummies,
T.S.O.L.,
The Searchers,
Gil Scott Heron,
Ultravox,
Charles Mingus,
Radio Birdman,
D'Angelo,
Dorothy Ashby,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Tears for Fears,
Terry Callier,
The Gap Band,
KRS-One,
Drive Like Jehu,
Vainqueur,
Ultra Naté,
John Holt,
Wally Richardson,
The Walker Brothers,
Joyce Sims,
Groovy Waters,
The Grass Roots,
The Moody Blues,
Gabor Szabo,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Patti Smith,
Unwound,
Talk Talk,
Severed Heads,
Junior Murvin,
Al Stewart,
Todd Rundgren,
The Beau Brummels,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Shoche,
Kerrie Biddell,
Gang Gang Dance,
Mary Jane Girls,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day.
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.