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 Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Kayak to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Mars. All the underground hits.
All Vladislav Delay tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Popol Vuh 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro 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 marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Curtis Mayfield,
Saccharine Trust,
Visage,
Technova,
The Stooges,
Yazoo,
Ossler,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Ultravox,
Pussy Galore,
Bad Manners,
Spandau Ballet,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Public Enemy,
Sex Pistols,
Susan Cadogan,
Donald Byrd,
Deepchord,
Jacques Brel,
Intrusion,
Bluetip,
Derrick May,
Clear Light,
Popol Vuh,
Electric Prunes,
The Mojo Men,
Grey Daturas,
Godley & Creme,
Piero Umiliani,
Cecil Taylor,
Brothers Johnson,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Crooked Eye,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Kinks,
Rhythm & Sound,
Mantronix,
Siglo XX,
Ten City,
Erykah Badu,
China Crisis,
Sparks,
X-Ray Spex,
KRS-One,
Blossom Toes,
Kool Moe Dee,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Matthew Halsall,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Sandy B,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Howard Jones,
FM Einheit,
Marvin Gaye,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Moby Grape,
The Detroit Cobras,
Youth Brigade,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Glenn Branca,
The Gories,
New York Dolls,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
June of 44, June of 44, June of 44, June of 44.
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.