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 Paraguay and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Motions to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Accadde A. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roxy Music record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pet Shop Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Boredoms,
Bush Tetras,
Y Pants,
FM Einheit,
Gang of Four,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Faraquet,
Tim Buckley,
The J.B.'s,
Barbara Tucker,
8 Eyed Spy,
Erykah Badu,
Jacques Brel,
Scott Walker,
Blake Baxter,
Kaleidoscope,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Kayak,
Scion,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Sparks,
Slick Rick,
Jimmy McGriff,
Television Personalities,
Sexual Harrassment,
Shoche,
Hasil Adkins,
Minor Threat,
Josef K,
Rekid,
Altered Images,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Bootsy Collins,
The Monks,
Shuggie Otis,
Alphaville,
Graham Central Station,
Steve Hackett,
Cymande,
Whodini,
Deadbeat,
Sällskapet,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
These Immortal Souls,
The Detroit Cobras,
Dark Day,
Make Up,
John Coltrane,
The Moleskins,
The Smoke,
Sun City Girls,
The Alarm Clocks,
Moby Grape,
Brand Nubian,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Dennis Brown,
Yaz,
Nas,
Qualms,
the Slits,
Lyres,
Bluetip,
Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies.
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.