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 Benin and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Bootsy's Rubber Band to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Zeros. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Flesh Eaters 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a 808 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 mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Hill,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Susan Cadogan,
Index,
The Busters,
Patti Smith,
Max Romeo,
Circle Jerks,
Vainqueur,
the Soft Cell,
The Beau Brummels,
Stereo Dub,
The Birthday Party,
The Dead C,
Con Funk Shun,
Dual Sessions,
Godley & Creme,
The Mojo Men,
Barry Ungar,
New York Dolls,
The Pretty Things,
Das Ding,
Rosa Yemen,
Mary Jane Girls,
Inner City,
Danielle Patucci,
The Misunderstood,
LL Cool J,
Liliput,
World's Most,
The Motions,
Aswad,
Royal Trux,
Rekid,
Kaleidoscope,
Section 25,
Fela Kuti,
Nirvana,
Johnny Clarke,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Marine Girls,
Outsiders,
Arcadia,
The Blues Magoos,
MDC,
Terry Callier,
Donny Hathaway,
The Young Rascals,
Brick,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
the Slits,
Kurtis Blow,
EPMD,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Scion,
Derrick Morgan,
Quando Quango,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Girls At Our Best!,
Robert Wyatt,
Nico,
Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian.
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.