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 Tunisia and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the snare 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 Warsaw to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Japan. All the underground hits.
All Kayak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Agitation Free record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 an oboe and a 808 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 spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Happenings,
Reuben Wilson,
Alice Coltrane,
Hot Snakes,
Massinfluence,
Faust,
Johnny Osbourne,
Harmonia,
Young Marble Giants,
One Last Wish,
Glambeats Corp.,
FM Einheit,
Loose Ends,
10cc,
Babytalk,
Godley & Creme,
Con Funk Shun,
Janne Schatter,
Scion,
Aswad,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lebanon Hanover,
Sonny Sharrock,
Chris & Cosey,
Procol Harum,
Thompson Twins,
Scientists,
Archie Shepp,
Chris Corsano,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Thee Headcoats,
the Sonics,
Henry Cow,
The Count Five,
Lakeside,
Shuggie Otis,
Wolf Eyes,
The Birthday Party,
The Offenders,
Jeru the Damaja,
48th St. Collective,
Boz Scaggs,
Susan Cadogan,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Gang Gang Dance,
Altered Images,
ABBA,
New Order,
Derrick May,
Ultra Naté,
Althea and Donna,
Nico,
The Buckinghams,
Qualms,
La Düsseldorf,
Flipper,
The Slackers,
Sam Rivers,
The Black Dice,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Deepchord,
Darondo,
Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow.
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.