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 Gambia and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Steve Hackett to the dance kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Crispian St. Peters. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-102 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe 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 harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flipper,
John Lydon,
Hardrive,
Deakin,
Groovy Waters,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Martian,
Qualms,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Godley & Creme,
Mary Jane Girls,
Lalann,
Jacques Brel,
Rites of Spring,
The Kinks,
Silicon Teens,
ABBA,
Fela Kuti,
Quando Quango,
Babytalk,
Kurtis Blow,
Black Bananas,
Wire,
Joy Division,
Zero Boys,
The Durutti Column,
Faust,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Skaos,
Eric Copeland,
Cheater Slicks,
The Move,
Bronski Beat,
Magazine,
Spoonie Gee,
Marshall Jefferson,
Soft Machine,
Alphaville,
MDC,
Maurizio,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lalo Schifrin,
Sugar Minott,
Dorothy Ashby,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Evens,
New York Dolls,
The Real Kids,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Ultimate Spinach,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gerry Rafferty,
Little Man,
Rod Modell,
Jeru the Damaja,
Rufus Thomas,
Icehouse,
Al Stewart,
D'Angelo,
Neu!,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.