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 Tanzania and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 808 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 L. Decosne to the funk 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 Subhumans. All the underground hits.
All Ultravox tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Don Cherry 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer 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 snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gap Band,
Tears for Fears,
Reagan Youth,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Mark Hollis,
Joe Finger,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Residents,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Ken Boothe,
Public Enemy,
Skriet,
the Bar-Kays,
T.S.O.L.,
Max Romeo,
Sound Behaviour,
Main Source,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Ultra Naté,
Roger Hodgson,
Gerry Rafferty,
Country Joe & The Fish,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Rufus Thomas,
The Techniques,
Yazoo,
Joey Negro,
Marvin Gaye,
Pantaleimon,
Smog,
Charles Mingus,
Terry Callier,
The Fuzztones,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Television,
Dorothy Ashby,
Susan Cadogan,
Kayak,
David Bowie,
Graham Central Station,
The Remains,
Kurtis Blow,
KRS-One,
L. Decosne,
The Red Krayola,
The Five Americans,
Essential Logic,
John Lydon,
The Star Department,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Livin' Joy,
Ituana,
The Cure,
Kerri Chandler,
Warsaw,
Underground Resistance,
Agitation Free,
Curtis Mayfield,
Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix.
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.