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 Liberia and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the 808 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 Babytalk to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Nico tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Raincoats record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 clarinet 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 arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Funky Four + One,
The Victims,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Cluster,
FM Einheit,
Franke,
Scientists,
Grey Daturas,
Chrome,
Niagra,
Wolf Eyes,
The Residents,
Idris Muhammad,
The Leaves,
X-Ray Spex,
Isaac Hayes,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Lebanon Hanover,
Nik Kershaw,
The Alarm Clocks,
Nirvana,
Aswad,
Mantronix,
Jeff Lynne,
Das Ding,
John Coltrane,
Ohio Players,
Infiniti,
The Monks,
The Litter,
Albert Ayler,
Gang Green,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Move,
Surgeon,
Max Romeo,
Boredoms,
The Real Kids,
Crime,
Con Funk Shun,
Rekid,
The Walker Brothers,
Wasted Youth,
Accadde A,
World's Most,
Intrusion,
Scrapy,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Blues Magoos,
Flipper,
Make Up,
Radio Birdman,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Mad Mike,
The Fall,
Shuggie Otis,
Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick.
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.