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 Eritrea and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Thompson Twins to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Los Fastidios. All the underground hits.
All Fort Wilson Riot tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marvin Gaye record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar 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 rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wire,
Lindisfarne,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Warren Ellis,
Peter and Kerry,
The Black Dice,
Tears for Fears,
Althea and Donna,
E-Dancer,
Harpers Bizarre,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Angry Samoans,
Jesper Dahlback,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Last Poets,
The Skatalites,
Davy DMX,
Swans,
F. McDonald,
Joey Negro,
Yaz,
Kenny Larkin,
The Golliwogs,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Blake Baxter,
Marmalade,
The Human League,
Minnie Riperton,
The J.B.'s,
Aloha Tigers,
EPMD,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Kaleidoscope,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Electric Prunes,
the Association,
Negative Approach,
Mary Jane Girls,
L. Decosne,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Kurtis Blow,
Heaven 17,
Can,
Fifty Foot Hose,
B.T. Express,
The Cure,
Moby Grape,
These Immortal Souls,
Q65,
Underground Resistance,
The Stooges,
Rites of Spring,
Aswad,
Rod Modell,
Dorothy Ashby,
Gang Starr,
Scientists,
Livin' Joy,
Derrick May,
Siglo XX,
Faust,
John Cale,
Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players.
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.