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 Philippines and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 808 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 Scratch Acid to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Heavy D & The Boyz. All the underground hits.
All Lafayette Afro Rock Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echospace record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a FM Einheit record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
The Cowsills,
Banda Bassotti,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Electric Prunes,
Television,
Quando Quango,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Michelle Simonal,
Grandmaster Flash,
Blake Baxter,
Black Sheep,
Terry Callier,
Robert Görl,
Swans,
Sun City Girls,
Scratch Acid,
Model 500,
Cluster,
The Buckinghams,
Fluxion,
The Zeros,
Pylon,
Fifty Foot Hose,
D'Angelo,
Symarip,
Motorama,
ABC,
Tommy Roe,
Au Pairs,
The Human League,
Reuben Wilson,
Electric Light Orchestra,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Searchers,
The Five Americans,
Second Layer,
Barry Ungar,
One Last Wish,
Marmalade,
Liliput,
Mandrill,
Lalo Schifrin,
June of 44,
Newcleus,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Lyres,
Bootsy Collins,
Index,
Cal Tjader,
Con Funk Shun,
The Velvet Underground,
The American Breed,
Flamin' Groovies,
Warsaw,
Rod Modell,
Sarah Menescal,
Kaleidoscope,
Sexual Harrassment,
the Swans,
Qualms,
Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players.
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.