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 Bolivia and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the güiro 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 The Cosmic Jokers to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. All the underground hits.
All Ten City tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Byron Stingily record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ 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 an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Ice-T,
A Certain Ratio,
The Kinks,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Buzzcocks,
Sarah Menescal,
Moss Icon,
Little Man,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Soft Machine,
Joe Finger,
The Skatalites,
Dead Boys,
Quantec,
The Gun Club,
Rakim,
Barbara Tucker,
The American Breed,
Blancmange,
Mars,
Hoover,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Patti Smith,
Sound Behaviour,
Goldenarms,
Pet Shop Boys,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Buckinghams,
Eric Dolphy,
Junior Murvin,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Cheater Slicks,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Misunderstood,
David Bowie,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Fort Wilson Riot,
In Retrospect,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Joensuu 1685,
Amon Düül,
Cecil Taylor,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
8 Eyed Spy,
Circle Jerks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Scan 7,
Aaron Thompson,
Throbbing Gristle,
Model 500,
Nirvana,
The Martian,
Camberwell Now,
Nick Fraelich,
The Selecter,
T.S.O.L.,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Black Pus,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots.
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.