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 Nauru and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Slits 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 Suburban Knight. All the underground hits.
All Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultimate Spinach 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb 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 linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Finger,
The Fall,
Minny Pops,
Little Man,
Siglo XX,
Liliput,
Throbbing Gristle,
Royal Trux,
The Dirtbombs,
Chris & Cosey,
Yellowson,
Alison Limerick,
Easy Going,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Gladiators,
Grandmaster Flash,
Idris Muhammad,
Kerrie Biddell,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Derrick May,
the Slits,
Infiniti,
Pantytec,
Eric B and Rakim,
David Bowie,
Lindisfarne,
LL Cool J,
Kurtis Blow,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Leaves,
Niagra,
Magma,
Lalo Schifrin,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Roxette,
Althea and Donna,
Gang Gang Dance,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Associates,
Slave,
Colin Newman,
Bob Dylan,
Alphaville,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Saints,
Q65,
Gang Green,
Essential Logic,
Derrick Morgan,
Bobby Sherman,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Alarm Clocks,
Dark Day,
Urselle,
Eli Mardock,
The Divine Comedy,
The Dead C,
Country Teasers,
The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine.
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.