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 Albania and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the organ 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 David McCallum to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 a-ha. All the underground hits.
All Dennis Brown tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Saccharine Trust record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 mellotron and a guitar 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 arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Moleskins,
Funkadelic,
Rod Modell,
The Electric Prunes,
Moby Grape,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Barracudas,
Lakeside,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Dave Gahan,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Brothers Johnson,
Saccharine Trust,
Bronski Beat,
Spandau Ballet,
The Pretty Things,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Matthew Bourne,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Flamin' Groovies,
Cybotron,
Wasted Youth,
Isaac Hayes,
Moss Icon,
DJ Style,
Patti Smith,
Donald Byrd,
Erykah Badu,
The Evens,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
New York Dolls,
PIL,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Residents,
E-Dancer,
Procol Harum,
Slave,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
James White and The Blacks,
Basic Channel,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Wake,
Albert Ayler,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Stooges,
The Five Americans,
Johnny Osbourne,
Pet Shop Boys,
Guru Guru,
Jeff Mills,
the Normal,
Archie Shepp,
Public Image Ltd.,
Spoonie Gee,
Panda Bear,
U.S. Maple,
Con Funk Shun,
Gregory Isaacs,
Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike.
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.