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 Kazakhstan and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Charles Mingus to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Blake Baxter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Music Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terry Callier record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
The Litter,
Ten City,
Drive Like Jehu,
Easy Going,
Sugar Minott,
Dawn Penn,
Silicon Teens,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Moebius,
Cluster,
Brand Nubian,
Warsaw,
ABC,
Arab on Radar,
Flash Fearless,
Tropical Tobacco,
Niagra,
Archie Shepp,
The Index,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Grey Daturas,
Scion,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Infiniti,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Gerry Rafferty,
The New Christs,
Stiv Bators,
Gichy Dan,
Nico,
the Bar-Kays,
Ludus,
David McCallum,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Kinks,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Pere Ubu,
Glambeats Corp.,
In Retrospect,
Donny Hathaway,
LL Cool J,
a-ha,
Jawbox,
The J.B.'s,
Yaz,
Wolf Eyes,
Yazoo,
These Immortal Souls,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Neil Young,
The Electric Prunes,
The Happenings,
Circle Jerks,
Aloha Tigers,
the Slits,
Chrome,
The Martian,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.