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 Vanuatu and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 guitar 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 J.B.'s to the techno 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 Brass Construction. All the underground hits.
All Von Mondo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bob Dylan 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar 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 sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Flag,
Ornette Coleman,
The Grass Roots,
The Associates,
Boogie Down Productions,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Whodini,
H. Thieme,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Leaves,
Aswad,
Jimmy McGriff,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Busters,
Crooked Eye,
The Golliwogs,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Duran Duran,
Oblivians,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Curtis Mayfield,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Kinks,
The Star Department,
Negative Approach,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Invisible,
Simply Red,
Yazoo,
The Neon Judgement,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Grey Daturas,
Malaria!,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Dave Clark Five,
Delta 5,
Interpol,
The Fuzztones,
X-101,
Scrapy,
Kenny Larkin,
Nico,
a-ha,
Sarah Menescal,
the Human League,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Talk Talk,
K-Klass,
Shuggie Otis,
Tom Boy,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Bizarre Inc.,
Lou Reed,
Metal Thangz,
The Red Krayola,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Donald Byrd,
Mantronix,
the Fania All-Stars,
Camouflage,
Stereo Dub,
F. McDonald,
The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground.
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.