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 Pakistan and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the oboe 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 Siglo XX to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Judy Mowatt. All the underground hits.
All Scott Walker + Sunn O))) tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thee Headcoats 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 a theremin and a synthesizer 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 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Green,
the Normal,
The Grass Roots,
The Blues Magoos,
Reuben Wilson,
Kaleidoscope,
Colin Newman,
Susan Cadogan,
Camouflage,
Symarip,
Cluster,
Joe Finger,
Babytalk,
Bobby Byrd,
Grandmaster Flash,
Lou Reed,
Jawbox,
Gong,
The Tremeloes,
EPMD,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Gap Band,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cybotron,
The Mummies,
Spandau Ballet,
Eric Dolphy,
The Martian,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Lightning Bolt,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Evens,
Robert Hood,
Stereo Dub,
The Pop Group,
Angry Samoans,
Ohio Players,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Man Eating Sloth,
Magazine,
Television,
48th St. Collective,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lalann,
Delon & Dalcan,
Eden Ahbez,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Soft Machine,
These Immortal Souls,
Joyce Sims,
the Slits,
Bob Dylan,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Ronan,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Model 500,
Deadbeat,
Tears for Fears,
Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar.
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.