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 Vietnam and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the marimba 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 Alton Ellis to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Robert Görl tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mission of Burma record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lower 48 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
DNA,
Franke,
Ludus,
The Dead C,
Tubeway Army,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Judy Mowatt,
Chris Corsano,
June Days,
Johnny Clarke,
Sonic Youth,
cv313,
The Last Poets,
David Bowie,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Severed Heads,
The Young Rascals,
The Fuzztones,
Wire,
Harry Pussy,
Scratch Acid,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Porter Ricks,
Rod Modell,
Rapeman,
Main Source,
The Grass Roots,
The Residents,
Erykah Badu,
Anakelly,
Chrome,
Mark Hollis,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Arthur Verocai,
Stetsasonic,
Sun Ra,
The Wake,
FM Einheit,
The Happenings,
Con Funk Shun,
Terry Callier,
The Blackbyrds,
Avey Tare,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Quando Quango,
Schoolly D,
Maurizio,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Grandmaster Flash,
Kas Product,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Busters,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Talk Talk,
Erasure,
Second Layer,
Negative Approach,
Throbbing Gristle,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Jawbox,
Donny Hathaway,
Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco.
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.