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 Tanzania and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Residents to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Lindisfarne. All the underground hits.
All Rites of Spring tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sarah Menescal record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The J.B.'s record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Gladiators,
The Tremeloes,
Public Enemy,
Sparks,
Oblivians,
Arab on Radar,
Spoonie Gee,
Underground Resistance,
The Techniques,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Shoche,
Nick Fraelich,
Bobby Womack,
Can,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Divine Comedy,
Black Flag,
Scott Walker,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Pylon,
Juan Atkins,
Soul II Soul,
Ituana,
Surgeon,
Qualms,
Warsaw,
The Birthday Party,
Yellowson,
Sugar Minott,
Crooked Eye,
Ultravox,
Scion,
Archie Shepp,
June of 44,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Terrestrial Tones,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lower 48,
Johnny Osbourne,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Glambeats Corp.,
Funky Four + One,
The Fall,
Lebanon Hanover,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Bob Dylan,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Monochrome Set,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
L. Decosne,
The United States of America,
Lindisfarne,
Patti Smith,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Yaz,
Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood.
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.