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 Congo and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Matthew Bourne to the funk 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 Bill Near. All the underground hits.
All Crispian St. Peters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Glambeats Corp. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin 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 a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Glenn Branca,
Saccharine Trust,
Aural Exciters,
John Lydon,
Mary Jane Girls,
Camberwell Now,
Massinfluence,
Malaria!,
R.M.O.,
H. Thieme,
Bobby Womack,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Gap Band,
Fluxion,
Jimmy McGriff,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Hashim,
The Offenders,
Lalo Schifrin,
Minnie Riperton,
Aswad,
Fela Kuti,
The Angels of Light,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Siglo XX,
Erasure,
Nils Olav,
U.S. Maple,
Marine Girls,
a-ha,
Rekid,
Symarip,
Slick Rick,
Arthur Verocai,
The Blackbyrds,
Essential Logic,
The Last Poets,
Drexciya,
Anakelly,
Johnny Osbourne,
X-101,
Lalann,
Vladislav Delay,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Neon Judgement,
the Human League,
Parry Music,
Scratch Acid,
La Düsseldorf,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Cymande,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Neil Young,
In Retrospect,
Godley & Creme,
Joey Negro,
Pantytec,
DNA,
Suburban Knight,
Warren Ellis,
Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going.
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.