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 Jordan and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Bill Wells to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Roy Ayers. All the underground hits.
All Terrestrial Tones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Malaria! record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 spring reverb and a harpsichord 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 snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tim Buckley,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Scratch Acid,
Dawn Penn,
Gil Scott Heron,
ABC,
Byron Stingily,
Pharoah Sanders,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
David Bowie,
Supertramp,
The Fugs,
Lucky Dragons,
Stetsasonic,
Sarah Menescal,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Kinks,
The Moleskins,
Skarface,
Blossom Toes,
Flipper,
Donald Byrd,
Derrick Morgan,
The Blues Magoos,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ralphi Rosario,
Angry Samoans,
John Cale,
Fluxion,
Agent Orange,
The Red Krayola,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
One Last Wish,
Leonard Cohen,
Young Marble Giants,
The Durutti Column,
Funkadelic,
Faust,
David Axelrod,
Quando Quango,
Darondo,
La Düsseldorf,
Bang On A Can,
Depeche Mode,
Colin Newman,
Sight & Sound,
Eddi Front,
Man Eating Sloth,
Harmonia,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Johnny Osbourne,
Suburban Knight,
Masters at Work,
Tom Boy,
Bobby Womack,
The Mighty Diamonds,
K-Klass,
Minnie Riperton,
Shoche,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Dorothy Ashby,
Motorama,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282.
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.