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 Uganda and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Rakim to the grime 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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux. All the underground hits.
All Ohio Players tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cluster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator 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 snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eurythmics,
The Human League,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Fire Engines,
Maleditus Sound,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Fad Gadget,
Dual Sessions,
Wings,
The Associates,
Stereo Dub,
Barbara Tucker,
Todd Rundgren,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Slick Rick,
Bob Dylan,
the Slits,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Neon Judgement,
K-Klass,
L. Decosne,
Pere Ubu,
The Mummies,
Chris Corsano,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Essential Logic,
The Standells,
Pantytec,
Visage,
Sonic Youth,
The Tremeloes,
Josef K,
Gregory Isaacs,
Bill Wells,
Ohio Players,
Intrusion,
World's Most,
Babytalk,
Black Moon,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Section 25,
Ossler,
Marshall Jefferson,
Boredoms,
Moss Icon,
Morten Harket,
The Walker Brothers,
DNA,
X-102,
Marc Almond,
Ponytail,
The Monochrome Set,
Harmonia,
Groovy Waters,
Rakim,
Lyres,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Average White Band,
The Index,
Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier.
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.