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 Jamaica and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Pantytec to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Oppenheimer Analysis. All the underground hits.
All Qualms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 48th St. Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer 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 clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Trumans Water,
Soul II Soul,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Smog,
The Mojo Men,
The Moleskins,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Yazoo,
Todd Rundgren,
Urselle,
Dennis Brown,
Shoche,
The Monks,
Brass Construction,
Lebanon Hanover,
Das Ding,
Davy DMX,
Echospace,
Groovy Waters,
Radiohead,
Danielle Patucci,
Yellowson,
Icehouse,
Robert Wyatt,
Monolake,
The Angels of Light,
Hasil Adkins,
Amazonics,
The Dead C,
David Axelrod,
X-101,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Terrestrial Tones,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Isaac Hayes,
Donny Hathaway,
Roger Hodgson,
T.S.O.L.,
Eurythmics,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Last Poets,
Wire,
Sight & Sound,
Visage,
Rakim,
Easy Going,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Pylon,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Martian,
B.T. Express,
Procol Harum,
Thompson Twins,
Laurel Aitken,
JFA,
Tres Demented,
Letta Mbulu,
Franke,
Gang of Four,
Gang Gang Dance,
Schoolly D, Schoolly D, Schoolly D, Schoolly D.
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.