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 Ukraine and from Milan.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Marine Girls to the techno 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 A Certain Ratio. All the underground hits.
All Flash Fearless tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every D'Angelo 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a chamberlin 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 guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
In Retrospect,
The Moleskins,
Bronski Beat,
Q and Not U,
Fela Kuti,
Bizarre Inc.,
Section 25,
Blancmange,
Franke,
The Flesh Eaters,
Prince Buster,
ABBA,
The Offenders,
Hoover,
B.T. Express,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Jawbox,
David Bowie,
the Germs,
The Birthday Party,
Procol Harum,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Mandrill,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Last Poets,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sex Pistols,
The Seeds,
Archie Shepp,
Gichy Dan,
Technova,
E-Dancer,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Supertramp,
Ohio Players,
UT,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Mark Hollis,
Black Sheep,
The Grass Roots,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
cv313,
Royal Trux,
Warren Ellis,
Gil Scott Heron,
Popol Vuh,
Erykah Badu,
Carl Craig,
Banda Bassotti,
Charles Mingus,
The Fugs,
Subhumans,
Lower 48,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Hardrive,
The Walker Brothers,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Unrelated Segments,
Amon Düül,
the Normal,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
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.