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 Laos and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Young Marble Giants to the rap 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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All Sparks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Faust record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 mellotron 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 marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scrapy,
Barry Ungar,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lindisfarne,
The Flesh Eaters,
Theoretical Girls,
Kerri Chandler,
Donny Hathaway,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The American Breed,
Con Funk Shun,
Accadde A,
Lalo Schifrin,
Sight & Sound,
Surgeon,
Andrew Hill,
The Human League,
The Beau Brummels,
Duran Duran,
Rekid,
Deepchord,
The Angels of Light,
Lightning Bolt,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
L. Decosne,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Brick,
The Dirtbombs,
Bootsy Collins,
Brass Construction,
The Trojans,
Joensuu 1685,
Urselle,
The Leaves,
Matthew Bourne,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sam Rivers,
Can,
Pussy Galore,
The Fall,
The Victims,
T.S.O.L.,
Ken Boothe,
Vladislav Delay,
Yaz,
Robert Görl,
Vainqueur,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Isaac Hayes,
The Martian,
June Days,
Negative Approach,
Agent Orange,
Outsiders,
The Busters,
Mr. Review,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Jacques Brel,
Mary Jane Girls,
Wire,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.