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 Nepal and from Portland.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 organ 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 X-Ray Spex to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Youth Brigade. All the underground hits.
All the Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Massinfluence 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a 808 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 guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
JFA,
DJ Style,
John Coltrane,
The Index,
Bobby Womack,
The Buckinghams,
These Immortal Souls,
Aloha Tigers,
Jawbox,
ABC,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Misunderstood,
Minnie Riperton,
Arcadia,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Crash Course in Science,
kango's stein massive,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Los Fastidios,
Freddie Wadling,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Smoke,
The Moody Blues,
Henry Cow,
Brand Nubian,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
John Holt,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Althea and Donna,
World's Most,
The Human League,
Junior Murvin,
Skaos,
Goldenarms,
Slave,
Lungfish,
Quadrant,
Index,
Swans,
The Red Krayola,
Joensuu 1685,
Mr. Review,
Adolescents,
Livin' Joy,
Bobby Byrd,
Charles Mingus,
Sexual Harrassment,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Laurel Aitken,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Nick Fraelich,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
X-101,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Radiohead,
Loose Ends,
Lucky Dragons,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Dorothy Ashby,
Excepter,
Nation of Ulysses,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.