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 Colombia and from Edmonton.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Flesh Eaters to the funk 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 Lyres. All the underground hits.
All Suicide tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Royal Family And The Poor 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a guitar 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 linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Vogues,
Ken Boothe,
Grandmaster Flash,
Circle Jerks,
Swans,
Rotary Connection,
These Immortal Souls,
Mars,
Eric B and Rakim,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Audionom,
Lower 48,
Max Romeo,
The Real Kids,
Suicide,
Funkadelic,
Robert Görl,
Alison Limerick,
Drive Like Jehu,
Crispy Ambulance,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Public Enemy,
Nas,
La Düsseldorf,
Make Up,
The Golliwogs,
8 Eyed Spy,
Quadrant,
Gang of Four,
The Slits,
Bobby Byrd,
Magma,
Half Japanese,
Tubeway Army,
Technova,
Duran Duran,
Flamin' Groovies,
Bizarre Inc.,
Swell Maps,
Joy Division,
Au Pairs,
Rufus Thomas,
Kool Moe Dee,
Alphaville,
Letta Mbulu,
Sam Rivers,
The Searchers,
Roxette,
The Pop Group,
Bush Tetras,
Monolake,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Donny Hathaway,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Walker Brothers,
Archie Shepp,
China Crisis,
The Doors,
Minutemen,
The Move, The Move, The Move, The Move.
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.