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 Germany and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Robert Görl to the crunk 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 Oblivians. All the underground hits.
All Derrick May tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro 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 güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Martian,
Surgeon,
Stiv Bators,
Thompson Twins,
The Buckinghams,
Mars,
Qualms,
Sarah Menescal,
Bobby Byrd,
Deakin,
Radiohead,
Eurythmics,
Sixth Finger,
Althea and Donna,
The Dave Clark Five,
Pagans,
Jimmy McGriff,
Janne Schatter,
Camouflage,
The Grass Roots,
Alton Ellis,
Bauhaus,
Rufus Thomas,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lindisfarne,
Marvin Gaye,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Junior Murvin,
Jeru the Damaja,
Massinfluence,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Tears for Fears,
Gang Starr,
Boz Scaggs,
Grey Daturas,
Soft Machine,
Barbara Tucker,
cv313,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Hoover,
Depeche Mode,
Eli Mardock,
Hasil Adkins,
the Swans,
Loose Ends,
The Busters,
Bootsy Collins,
The Divine Comedy,
a-ha,
Bob Dylan,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Gap Band,
Gerry Rafferty,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Fluxion,
Fad Gadget,
Man Parrish,
Kool Moe Dee,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Human League,
Tubeway Army,
The Saints,
Strawberry Alarm Clock, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Strawberry Alarm Clock.
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.