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 Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Moby Grape to the techno 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 Bush Tetras. All the underground hits.
All Radio Birdman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a spring reverb 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 guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
John Coltrane,
Minor Threat,
Lucky Dragons,
The Sonics,
Wally Richardson,
The Walker Brothers,
The Grass Roots,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Lalo Schifrin,
Echospace,
Lalann,
Sun City Girls,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Public Enemy,
Harry Pussy,
Model 500,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Rhythm & Sound,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Sugar Minott,
The Vogues,
Newcleus,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Angels of Light,
Roger Hodgson,
Sandy B,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Angry Samoans,
The Standells,
Kayak,
Flamin' Groovies,
Michelle Simonal,
World's Most,
The Count Five,
Throbbing Gristle,
Yellowson,
Procol Harum,
Maurizio,
Rapeman,
the Germs,
PIL,
Livin' Joy,
X-101,
Josef K,
Second Layer,
Roy Ayers,
Anthony Braxton,
Mark Hollis,
Half Japanese,
Vladislav Delay,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Nick Fraelich,
the Association,
the Sonics,
Loose Ends,
Bang On A Can,
Ohio Players,
Excepter,
Reuben Wilson,
Scion,
Ten City,
Man Eating Sloth, Man Eating Sloth, Man Eating Sloth, Man Eating Sloth.
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.