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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Human League to the funk 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 Spandau Ballet. All the underground hits.
All Electric Prunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every KRS-One record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a harpsichord 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 theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Skatalites,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Gong,
the Human League,
Saccharine Trust,
The Move,
Warsaw,
JFA,
Scientists,
Jeff Lynne,
Mary Jane Girls,
Idris Muhammad,
Lindisfarne,
Nation of Ulysses,
Morten Harket,
Nick Fraelich,
Porter Ricks,
The Wake,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Music Machine,
The Fall,
Visage,
June of 44,
Bobby Womack,
Malaria!,
Half Japanese,
Basic Channel,
The Fuzztones,
Rod Modell,
Joe Smooth,
Isaac Hayes,
Cybotron,
Roger Hodgson,
Delon & Dalcan,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Sonics,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Kevin Saunderson,
Mad Mike,
LL Cool J,
Darondo,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Alarm Clocks,
Oblivians,
The Gories,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
8 Eyed Spy,
Curtis Mayfield,
Donny Hathaway,
Dorothy Ashby,
Faust,
the Normal,
Ludus,
Radiohead,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Eden Ahbez,
Camouflage,
The United States of America,
Neu!,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman.
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.