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 Korea South and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Todd Terry to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Index. All the underground hits.
All Peter and Kerry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Max Romeo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a clarinet 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 a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy Collins,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Tres Demented,
Gang of Four,
Malaria!,
Jandek,
MC5,
Sparks,
Hardrive,
Peter & Gordon,
Franke,
Dawn Penn,
Pantytec,
John Lydon,
Johnny Clarke,
Matthew Bourne,
F. McDonald,
The Music Machine,
Royal Trux,
Wire,
Eric Copeland,
Cal Tjader,
The Real Kids,
Dead Boys,
Jacob Miller,
Make Up,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
June Days,
Aswad,
This Heat,
Barclay James Harvest,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Moby Grape,
Amon Düül,
Pierre Henry,
Davy DMX,
Rosa Yemen,
Blake Baxter,
R.M.O.,
Barbara Tucker,
Ten City,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bauhaus,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Sun Ra,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
David McCallum,
Eric B and Rakim,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Soul II Soul,
Erykah Badu,
Sixth Finger,
The Standells,
Crash Course in Science,
Monks,
Ronan,
X-102,
The Velvet Underground,
Infiniti,
the Fania All-Stars,
The New Christs,
Rites of Spring,
Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk.
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.