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 Mexico and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Nik Kershaw to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stereo Dub record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 theremin and a mellotron 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 theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scratch Acid,
Tubeway Army,
Black Pus,
The American Breed,
John Cale,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Index,
Crispian St. Peters,
Newcleus,
Peter & Gordon,
Gabor Szabo,
Anthony Braxton,
DJ Style,
Lower 48,
The Mummies,
New York Dolls,
Tommy Roe,
Judy Mowatt,
The Trojans,
Country Teasers,
Index,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Erykah Badu,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Rekid,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Tears for Fears,
Saccharine Trust,
John Holt,
Erasure,
Stockholm Monsters,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Jawbox,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Vladislav Delay,
Juan Atkins,
A Flock of Seagulls,
ABBA,
Flash Fearless,
Zapp,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Kayak,
Grey Daturas,
Skaos,
Leonard Cohen,
Kerri Chandler,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Associates,
The Shadows of Knight,
Alison Limerick,
Wally Richardson,
Fear,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Susan Cadogan,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Gladiators,
PIL,
K-Klass,
Lakeside,
Harry Pussy,
The Standells,
Ronan,
Cymande, Cymande, Cymande, Cymande.
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.