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 Gabon and from Accra.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Martian to the rock 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 Al Stewart. All the underground hits.
All Strawberry Alarm Clock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drive Like Jehu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb 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 clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
Ludus,
The Divine Comedy,
Los Fastidios,
Howard Jones,
Soul Sonic Force,
Echospace,
John Foxx,
Bill Wells,
DNA,
Duran Duran,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
the Germs,
The Fall,
Gong,
Neil Young,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Erasure,
Peter and Kerry,
Goldenarms,
Sound Behaviour,
Schoolly D,
Danielle Patucci,
Bad Manners,
Rotary Connection,
LL Cool J,
John Holt,
The Searchers,
Technova,
Lungfish,
The Residents,
Barbara Tucker,
Dorothy Ashby,
Guru Guru,
Arthur Verocai,
Malaria!,
Essential Logic,
Liliput,
Andrew Hill,
Spandau Ballet,
Rekid,
Spoonie Gee,
Piero Umiliani,
David Bowie,
Scan 7,
Magma,
The Names,
Charles Mingus,
Swell Maps,
The Electric Prunes,
Slave,
Mantronix,
Joyce Sims,
Anthony Braxton,
R.M.O.,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Symarip,
the Soft Cell,
The Saints,
Todd Rundgren,
Eli Mardock,
Max Romeo,
Amon Düül II,
Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin.
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.