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 Malaysia and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 Accra and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Mars to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Ultramagnetic MC's. All the underground hits.
All Minnie Riperton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Howard Jones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe 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 chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
Funky Four + One,
John Coltrane,
the Normal,
Sexual Harrassment,
David Axelrod,
Organ,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Smoke,
Colin Newman,
The Searchers,
The Cure,
Y Pants,
Arthur Verocai,
cv313,
Carl Craig,
Goldenarms,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Ultra Naté,
Negative Approach,
Jeff Lynne,
The Human League,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Audionom,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Davy DMX,
Godley & Creme,
Skriet,
Kas Product,
Big Daddy Kane,
Sly & The Family Stone,
B.T. Express,
Surgeon,
The Sonics,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Quantec,
Brand Nubian,
Deakin,
The Mojo Men,
Severed Heads,
Glambeats Corp.,
the Sonics,
Yazoo,
The Last Poets,
Marmalade,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Michelle Simonal,
Metal Thangz,
U.S. Maple,
Intrusion,
Neu!,
The Misunderstood,
Nation of Ulysses,
Jerry's Kids,
Scan 7,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Camouflage,
the Bar-Kays,
Jandek,
Marine Girls,
The Kinks,
James White and The Blacks,
Matthew Halsall,
Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne.
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.