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 Costa Rica and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Marc Almond. All the underground hits.
All Godley & Creme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Invisible record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb 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 clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Negative Approach,
Fela Kuti,
The Monochrome Set,
The Gladiators,
Television,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Mojo Men,
Marine Girls,
Rosa Yemen,
Depeche Mode,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Eric Copeland,
The Velvet Underground,
The Zeros,
Excepter,
Yazoo,
Saccharine Trust,
John Lydon,
Surgeon,
Juan Atkins,
The Residents,
Maleditus Sound,
KRS-One,
Lightning Bolt,
The Grass Roots,
Graham Central Station,
Interpol,
Zapp,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Arcadia,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Lalo Schifrin,
Das Ding,
June Days,
Brand Nubian,
The Buckinghams,
The Star Department,
Section 25,
Cheater Slicks,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Nico,
The Stooges,
Fat Boys,
Max Romeo,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Lakeside,
The Martian,
Von Mondo,
Basic Channel,
Soul II Soul,
Wings,
Porter Ricks,
Faraquet,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Red Krayola,
Ten City,
Crispy Ambulance,
Babytalk,
Scientists, Scientists, Scientists, Scientists.
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.