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 Philippines and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Kayak to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sun Ra. All the underground hits.
All Make Up tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a sitar 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 organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
D'Angelo,
Funky Four + One,
Moby Grape,
Juan Atkins,
Steve Hackett,
Bob Dylan,
Quadrant,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Doobie Brothers,
Niagra,
Masters at Work,
Max Romeo,
The Blackbyrds,
Tim Buckley,
Crispian St. Peters,
Franke,
David Axelrod,
Mad Mike,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Sonic Youth,
Urselle,
Kerri Chandler,
The American Breed,
Erasure,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Kaleidoscope,
The Index,
Index,
The Fire Engines,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Big Daddy Kane,
Bronski Beat,
The Gun Club,
Robert Wyatt,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Tom Boy,
Essential Logic,
Sight & Sound,
Wings,
Desert Stars,
Godley & Creme,
New Order,
La Düsseldorf,
Swans,
Japan,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
the Slits,
The Searchers,
Maleditus Sound,
Patti Smith,
Los Fastidios,
Trumans Water,
Goldenarms,
Pylon,
Hardrive,
Whodini,
Blake Baxter,
Rufus Thomas,
The Trojans,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.