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 Taiwan and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Masters at Work to the disco 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 La Düsseldorf. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Divine Comedy 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Can 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?
Colin Newman,
Zero Boys,
Yellowson,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Deadbeat,
Lee Hazlewood,
Amazonics,
Gang Gang Dance,
Delta 5,
Lou Christie,
Oblivians,
The Tremeloes,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Skarface,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Golliwogs,
Matthew Bourne,
Hardrive,
Boredoms,
Fatback Band,
Terry Callier,
The Dirtbombs,
Ludus,
Skriet,
Sällskapet,
The Martian,
Second Layer,
Y Pants,
Trumans Water,
Tres Demented,
Cybotron,
Don Cherry,
Barry Ungar,
The Sonics,
Shoche,
The Grass Roots,
Isaac Hayes,
Bill Near,
Carl Craig,
Groovy Waters,
the Bar-Kays,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Maleditus Sound,
The Wake,
Graham Central Station,
Rekid,
Derrick Morgan,
Bobby Womack,
Rakim,
The Monochrome Set,
Soft Cell,
The Divine Comedy,
Eddi Front,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Main Source,
Robert Görl,
Khruangbin,
Rites of Spring,
Livin' Joy,
Black Flag,
Ituana,
Alison Limerick,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
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.