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 Mali and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise 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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the marimba 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 Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience to the rap 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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All The Chocolate Watch Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythm & Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet 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 synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Davy DMX,
Eddi Front,
F. McDonald,
Suburban Knight,
Spoonie Gee,
the Association,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Fire Engines,
Mr. Review,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Glenn Branca,
Adolescents,
Nick Fraelich,
The Toasters,
Dark Day,
John Holt,
Eric Dolphy,
Swans,
Massinfluence,
John Foxx,
Barclay James Harvest,
Drexciya,
Iggy Pop,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Niagra,
Ken Boothe,
Albert Ayler,
Oneida,
Black Bananas,
Zero Boys,
Max Romeo,
Television Personalities,
Pierre Henry,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Colin Newman,
Soul Sonic Force,
the Bar-Kays,
Joyce Sims,
The J.B.'s,
Hashim,
Model 500,
Harmonia,
The Mojo Men,
Negative Approach,
Slick Rick,
Dorothy Ashby,
Technova,
the Slits,
China Crisis,
Junior Murvin,
Lower 48,
Symarip,
The Cowsills,
The New Christs,
Loose Ends,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Boredoms,
Clear Light,
Cluster, Cluster, Cluster, Cluster.
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.