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 Nauru and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gichy Dan to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Stockholm Monsters. All the underground hits.
All Scan 7 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Sheep record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed & John Cale record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
John Coltrane,
Altered Images,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Saints,
Carl Craig,
Brick,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Slackers,
Flamin' Groovies,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Mantronix,
The Happenings,
Harmonia,
Arthur Verocai,
Johnny Osbourne,
Joe Finger,
Grandmaster Flash,
Tom Boy,
The Angels of Light,
ABC,
David McCallum,
Reuben Wilson,
DJ Style,
Cecil Taylor,
Unwound,
T. Rex,
The Velvet Underground,
Alice Coltrane,
Barclay James Harvest,
Nas,
The Cowsills,
Erykah Badu,
Bootsy Collins,
The Offenders,
The Fall,
John Holt,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Monks,
Alton Ellis,
The Young Rascals,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Animal Collective,
Lakeside,
Pussy Galore,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Quando Quango,
Kaleidoscope,
Barbara Tucker,
Girls At Our Best!,
Swell Maps,
The Evens,
The Real Kids,
Ice-T,
Audionom,
The Cramps,
Fat Boys,
Intrusion,
One Last Wish,
Harry Pussy, Harry Pussy, Harry Pussy, Harry Pussy.
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.