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 Djibouti and from Glasgow.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the organ 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 Mary Jane Girls to the rap 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 Sparks. All the underground hits.
All Easy Going tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sparks 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a spring reverb 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 an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Supertramp,
The Barracudas,
Barclay James Harvest,
Bootsy Collins,
The Angels of Light,
The Fuzztones,
Drive Like Jehu,
Thompson Twins,
The Music Machine,
Aaron Thompson,
The Cramps,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Boz Scaggs,
Heaven 17,
Interpol,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Spandau Ballet,
Pet Shop Boys,
Aswad,
David Axelrod,
the Slits,
Graham Central Station,
48th St. Collective,
The Velvet Underground,
Mission of Burma,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
PIL,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Brand Nubian,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Josef K,
Cameo,
Lou Christie,
F. McDonald,
Pagans,
The Electric Prunes,
Scott Walker,
Joey Negro,
Cal Tjader,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Little Man,
Smog,
Maurizio,
Average White Band,
CMW,
Sonic Youth,
Erykah Badu,
Deakin,
Cybotron,
Joensuu 1685,
The Smiths,
Yazoo,
Lee Hazlewood,
Scion,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Funkadelic,
The Monks,
Wolf Eyes,
Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water.
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.