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 Canada and from Accra.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Accra.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Barry Ungar to the grunge 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 Ultravox. All the underground hits.
All Marvin Gaye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every UT record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Second Layer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer 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?
Colin Newman,
Barclay James Harvest,
Franke,
Nas,
Oneida,
Quantec,
Subhumans,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Lou Christie,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Qualms,
T.S.O.L.,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Neu!,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Drive Like Jehu,
T. Rex,
The Move,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Susan Cadogan,
Bronski Beat,
Lungfish,
Bobby Sherman,
Don Cherry,
Marshall Jefferson,
Brand Nubian,
Slick Rick,
Television,
Harpers Bizarre,
Ronnie Foster,
Sugar Minott,
Funky Four + One,
Guru Guru,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Stiv Bators,
Donny Hathaway,
Crispian St. Peters,
Aloha Tigers,
Ralphi Rosario,
Duran Duran,
The Monochrome Set,
Flash Fearless,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Knickerbockers,
Amazonics,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Youth Brigade,
Warren Ellis,
Lyres,
Joe Finger,
Urselle,
Japan,
Moss Icon,
The Young Rascals,
Rotary Connection,
Pylon,
Barbara Tucker,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Black Dice,
Toni Rubio,
Infiniti,
Ituana, Ituana, Ituana, Ituana.
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.