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 Lebanon and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the mellotron 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 The Beau Brummels to the dance 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 The Star Department. All the underground hits.
All Fugazi tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an arpeggiator 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 rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Leonard Cohen,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Ludus,
Gang of Four,
Tropical Tobacco,
48th St. Collective,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Amazonics,
a-ha,
Camberwell Now,
China Crisis,
Freddie Wadling,
Porter Ricks,
The Smiths,
Essential Logic,
Alton Ellis,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Frankie Knuckles,
Pharoah Sanders,
Cheater Slicks,
Animal Collective,
Aloha Tigers,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Byron Stingily,
Mo-Dettes,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Maurizio,
Oneida,
Monks,
Yusef Lateef,
Nico,
The Skatalites,
Bill Near,
The Fugs,
Buzzcocks,
Main Source,
The Trojans,
The Gladiators,
Eric B and Rakim,
Thee Headcoats,
Darondo,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Aswad,
Nas,
The Fire Engines,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Junior Murvin,
the Bar-Kays,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Newcleus,
Black Pus,
B.T. Express,
Heaven 17,
Morten Harket,
Ultravox,
Massinfluence,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Symarip,
Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig.
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.