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 Burkina and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Brick to the rock 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 Crispian St. Peters. All the underground hits.
All The Neon Judgement tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris & Cosey record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro 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 rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Star Department,
Technova,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Quadrant,
Gong,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Camouflage,
Robert Görl,
Reagan Youth,
Pulsallama,
Jacques Brel,
Silicon Teens,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
the Sonics,
The Saints,
David Bowie,
Goldenarms,
Henry Cow,
Saccharine Trust,
Franke,
The Angels of Light,
T.S.O.L.,
The Zeros,
Basic Channel,
Motorama,
Schoolly D,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Byron Stingily,
The Martian,
Gil Scott Heron,
Joey Negro,
Jeru the Damaja,
Tomorrow,
Ponytail,
The Music Machine,
Aural Exciters,
Monolake,
The Tremeloes,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Maurizio,
Royal Trux,
Moebius,
PIL,
Inner City,
Kurtis Blow,
Rites of Spring,
Donny Hathaway,
Patti Smith,
The Leaves,
LL Cool J,
Fela Kuti,
The Sonics,
Liliput,
Susan Cadogan,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Alison Limerick,
The Fire Engines,
Mars,
Lalann,
EPMD,
Pantytec,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.