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 Senegal and from Toronto.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Lille.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the marimba 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 Ken Boothe to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 The Sisters of Mercy. All the underground hits.
All The Dead C tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MC5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 clarinet and an arpeggiator 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 arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeru the Damaja,
Lungfish,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Fad Gadget,
The Gap Band,
Drexciya,
Tommy Roe,
Brass Construction,
Babytalk,
Mars,
Pere Ubu,
Nas,
the Swans,
Traffic Nightmare,
48th St. Collective,
Radio Birdman,
The Smoke,
ABC,
Fugazi,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Essential Logic,
Das Ding,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Oblivians,
Gong,
The Gun Club,
Jawbox,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Nick Fraelich,
Jeff Mills,
The Fortunes,
Curtis Mayfield,
Dual Sessions,
Rapeman,
Y Pants,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Joyce Sims,
8 Eyed Spy,
Soul II Soul,
Reagan Youth,
Nation of Ulysses,
Inner City,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bill Wells,
Con Funk Shun,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Happenings,
Patti Smith,
Harry Pussy,
Iggy Pop,
Wings,
PIL,
Pierre Henry,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Index,
The Mummies,
Minnie Riperton,
Make Up,
Talk Talk,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Flipper,
Ronan,
One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish.
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.