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 Kuwait and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Joensuu 1685 to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All Supertramp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Carl Craig 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a clarinet 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 harpsichord and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Skatalites,
Nico,
The Count Five,
Johnny Clarke,
Bush Tetras,
Monolake,
Tres Demented,
Public Enemy,
The Angels of Light,
ABBA,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Moby Grape,
Althea and Donna,
KRS-One,
PIL,
Marine Girls,
Judy Mowatt,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Infiniti,
Ice-T,
Buzzcocks,
Matthew Bourne,
Average White Band,
The Smiths,
Eric B and Rakim,
One Last Wish,
Lou Reed,
Crispy Ambulance,
Saccharine Trust,
Nation of Ulysses,
the Association,
The Happenings,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Velvet Underground,
Khruangbin,
Sixth Finger,
Sister Nancy,
Ultravox,
The Move,
China Crisis,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Q65,
Tim Buckley,
Fat Boys,
Intrusion,
Avey Tare,
Adolescents,
Todd Rundgren,
Theoretical Girls,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Second Layer,
The Blackbyrds,
Public Image Ltd.,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Standells,
Sparks,
Half Japanese,
Bill Near,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Funky Four + One, Funky Four + One, Funky Four + One, Funky Four + One.
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.