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 Burundi and from Tokyo.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 The Cramps 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 Blake Baxter. All the underground hits.
All Lungfish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythim Is Rhythim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a linndrum 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 theremin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Echospace,
Stetsasonic,
Magazine,
Fela Kuti,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
La Düsseldorf,
Dorothy Ashby,
CMW,
The Fortunes,
Marmalade,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ten City,
Freddie Wadling,
cv313,
Wasted Youth,
Iggy Pop,
The J.B.'s,
DNA,
Icehouse,
Andrew Hill,
The Residents,
Thompson Twins,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Quando Quango,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Associates,
Nils Olav,
Hot Snakes,
Kaleidoscope,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Rites of Spring,
X-101,
Carl Craig,
Harry Pussy,
Urselle,
Lee Hazlewood,
Max Romeo,
The Gladiators,
Connie Case,
Wire,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Japan,
Severed Heads,
Wings,
Chris & Cosey,
U.S. Maple,
Eric Copeland,
Crispian St. Peters,
Sarah Menescal,
Stereo Dub,
Gregory Isaacs,
Absolute Body Control,
Dark Day,
Gastr Del Sol,
Chrome,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Skaos,
Crash Course in Science,
Ohio Players,
Zapp,
Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U.
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.