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 Costa Rica and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Lyon.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 John Cale to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Zeros. All the underground hits.
All The Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Basic Channel record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe 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 oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fear,
Television,
Mission of Burma,
F. McDonald,
Spandau Ballet,
The Golliwogs,
a-ha,
Albert Ayler,
Bizarre Inc.,
Pole,
The Smoke,
Crispian St. Peters,
Funky Four + One,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Gong,
Angry Samoans,
The Gun Club,
Fat Boys,
D'Angelo,
Ken Boothe,
The Five Americans,
Sun City Girls,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Busters,
Laurel Aitken,
Minutemen,
Tropical Tobacco,
Tom Boy,
Crispy Ambulance,
Jacques Brel,
Rosa Yemen,
Kurtis Blow,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Grey Daturas,
Talk Talk,
Moby Grape,
The Misunderstood,
Pulsallama,
Archie Shepp,
Royal Trux,
Eric Dolphy,
Intrusion,
Minnie Riperton,
Urselle,
The Music Machine,
Dawn Penn,
KRS-One,
Kerrie Biddell,
Vainqueur,
Jeru the Damaja,
Al Stewart,
Alice Coltrane,
Sam Rivers,
The Gladiators,
Newcleus,
The Martian,
The Human League,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Theoretical Girls,
Aswad,
The Pretty Things,
Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas.
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.