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 Philadelphia.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the sitar 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 UT to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Kas Product. All the underground hits.
All Pierre Henry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Qualms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Last Poets,
Scratch Acid,
Tres Demented,
Cluster,
Jacques Brel,
Jeru the Damaja,
Black Flag,
Radiohead,
Moby Grape,
Piero Umiliani,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Skarface,
The Victims,
Aswad,
Flash Fearless,
Basic Channel,
Johnny Osbourne,
Masters at Work,
the Bar-Kays,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Anthony Braxton,
The Human League,
the Slits,
Moss Icon,
Camouflage,
Lakeside,
Tubeway Army,
the Germs,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Eric B and Rakim,
Donny Hathaway,
Darondo,
the Sonics,
Circle Jerks,
The Angels of Light,
It's A Beautiful Day,
DJ Sneak,
The Electric Prunes,
Tears for Fears,
Wings,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Mary Jane Girls,
Supertramp,
Dual Sessions,
Faraquet,
Leonard Cohen,
Echospace,
Patti Smith,
Unwound,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
a-ha,
Quadrant,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Charles Mingus,
June of 44,
Fluxion,
Accadde A,
Los Fastidios,
Massinfluence,
Khruangbin,
Bang On A Can, Bang On A Can, Bang On A Can, Bang On A Can.
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.