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 Malta and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 Copenhagen and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Standells to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Ludus. All the underground hits.
All The Offenders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Accadde A record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 mellotron and a 808 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 chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Mary Jane Girls,
Accadde A,
Black Flag,
Eddi Front,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Robert Görl,
Andrew Hill,
Tropical Tobacco,
Average White Band,
The Red Krayola,
Jawbox,
Buzzcocks,
Rapeman,
Rosa Yemen,
Bush Tetras,
Moss Icon,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
David Axelrod,
Agent Orange,
Rod Modell,
The Pretty Things,
R.M.O.,
Tubeway Army,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Minny Pops,
Carl Craig,
Susan Cadogan,
DJ Sneak,
Ossler,
Cecil Taylor,
Janne Schatter,
Adolescents,
Eurythmics,
48th St. Collective,
Amon Düül,
Kerri Chandler,
The Smiths,
Sun Ra,
Scott Walker,
Lou Reed,
Barry Ungar,
T. Rex,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Toni Rubio,
Steve Hackett,
Lyres,
The Trojans,
Sparks,
Scientists,
Nico,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pantaleimon,
The Neon Judgement,
Kaleidoscope,
Sixth Finger,
Spandau Ballet,
Pharoah Sanders,
Rakim,
The Electric Prunes,
Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese.
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.