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 Congo and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Red Krayola to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Livin' Joy. All the underground hits.
All Roxette tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Busters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare 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 güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Jacques Brel,
The Pop Group,
June Days,
Curtis Mayfield,
Amon Düül,
Camberwell Now,
the Fania All-Stars,
Jeff Mills,
Smog,
Iggy Pop,
La Düsseldorf,
Slick Rick,
The Smiths,
Piero Umiliani,
D'Angelo,
Fugazi,
Johnny Osbourne,
Harmonia,
Andrew Hill,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Los Fastidios,
Hashim,
Motorama,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Hasil Adkins,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Gang Gang Dance,
Zapp,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Unwound,
Ornette Coleman,
Soulsonic Force,
The Evens,
Flash Fearless,
X-Ray Spex,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Monochrome Set,
The Velvet Underground,
Interpol,
Newcleus,
Jesper Dahlback,
Fluxion,
Erasure,
JFA,
Pylon,
DNA,
Gang Green,
Faust,
Robert Hood,
Laurel Aitken,
Morten Harket,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Michelle Simonal,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Inner City,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Zeros,
Tommy Roe,
The Seeds,
Skriet,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy.
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.