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 Mexico and from Taipei.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Tehran.
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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Jeru the Damaja to the funk 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 Bluetip. All the underground hits.
All Scion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Isaac Hayes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 marimba and a guitar 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 sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pantaleimon,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Gun Club,
Camberwell Now,
U.S. Maple,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
the Bar-Kays,
Max Romeo,
F. McDonald,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Shoche,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Alton Ellis,
Don Cherry,
Pussy Galore,
Lower 48,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Excepter,
Ornette Coleman,
Freddie Wadling,
Trumans Water,
Jeff Lynne,
Von Mondo,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Sonic Youth,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Monks,
New York Dolls,
John Cale,
Skarface,
Altered Images,
Isaac Hayes,
The Human League,
Gil Scott Heron,
David Axelrod,
Sugar Minott,
The Invisible,
Wolf Eyes,
Public Enemy,
Barrington Levy,
Minutemen,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Matthew Halsall,
Country Teasers,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Sandy B,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Dead C,
Scratch Acid,
Rotary Connection,
Mary Jane Girls,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Slave,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Dirtbombs,
Massinfluence,
Graham Central Station,
Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun.
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.