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 Grenada and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Toronto.
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 spring reverb 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 Porter Ricks to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Ash Ra Tempel. All the underground hits.
All Motorama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 rhodes 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 arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tropical Tobacco,
Niagra,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Joyce Sims,
The Zeros,
Bad Manners,
The Neon Judgement,
Animal Collective,
The Residents,
Johnny Osbourne,
Brick,
Gil Scott Heron,
Monks,
Agent Orange,
Joensuu 1685,
Shuggie Otis,
The American Breed,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bauhaus,
Infiniti,
Terrestrial Tones,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Slits,
The New Christs,
Quando Quango,
Scrapy,
Robert Görl,
Steve Hackett,
Alison Limerick,
Johnny Clarke,
Goldenarms,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Man Parrish,
kango's stein massive,
New York Dolls,
Severed Heads,
Yazoo,
John Lydon,
Godley & Creme,
Index,
Gastr Del Sol,
Kenny Larkin,
Tomorrow,
Drive Like Jehu,
Arthur Verocai,
Cybotron,
Sun City Girls,
Sparks,
The Five Americans,
Popol Vuh,
Chris & Cosey,
Pere Ubu,
Heaven 17,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bob Dylan,
E-Dancer,
H. Thieme,
Eurythmics,
Unwound,
John Coltrane,
Harmonia,
Liliput,
Arcadia,
Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes.
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.