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 Afghanistan and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Lower 48 to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Pharoah Sanders. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Moleskins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar 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 oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fugazi,
The Invisible,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
R.M.O.,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Vogues,
Lalann,
The Moleskins,
Icehouse,
Howard Jones,
The Slackers,
Black Flag,
Con Funk Shun,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Boogie Down Productions,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Motions,
F. McDonald,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Velvet Underground,
Pere Ubu,
Barrington Levy,
Quando Quango,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Beau Brummels,
The Detroit Cobras,
Terrestrial Tones,
Negative Approach,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Sun City Girls,
Malaria!,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Soulsonic Force,
The Sound,
Davy DMX,
Eurythmics,
Gabor Szabo,
Ornette Coleman,
Ken Boothe,
Ultravox,
Loose Ends,
Ituana,
Sällskapet,
Mad Mike,
Monolake,
Skarface,
Ludus,
a-ha,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Last Poets,
Curtis Mayfield,
Jacob Miller,
The Offenders,
Banda Bassotti,
Max Romeo,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Wally Richardson,
The Music Machine,
Sun Ra,
Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis.
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.