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 Kiribati and from Woodstock.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Ultra Naté to the electroclash 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 B.T. Express. All the underground hits.
All Delon & Dalcan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Richard Hell and the Voidoids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba 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 an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Names,
Kerri Chandler,
Delta 5,
Derrick May,
Peter and Kerry,
Second Layer,
Brass Construction,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Young Rascals,
Wire,
Magma,
Intrusion,
Harmonia,
Stetsasonic,
The Seeds,
48th St. Collective,
China Crisis,
Procol Harum,
Roger Hodgson,
June of 44,
Fat Boys,
John Coltrane,
Man Parrish,
D'Angelo,
Aaron Thompson,
Brothers Johnson,
The Remains,
Rites of Spring,
Godley & Creme,
Wings,
Frankie Knuckles,
Isaac Hayes,
Robert Hood,
Boredoms,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Gastr Del Sol,
Mary Jane Girls,
Moby Grape,
Kevin Saunderson,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Star Department,
Glambeats Corp.,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Derrick Morgan,
the Sonics,
Suburban Knight,
Panda Bear,
Althea and Donna,
The Barracudas,
Kayak,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Boz Scaggs,
Talk Talk,
Smog,
Jacques Brel,
Marshall Jefferson,
Severed Heads,
Visage,
Liliput,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Alton Ellis,
The American Breed,
Bush Tetras,
Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget.
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.