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 Zambia and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Beijing.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Matthew Bourne to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Skaos. All the underground hits.
All Iggy Pop tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Busters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ 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 marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harmonia,
The Monochrome Set,
Zero Boys,
Anthony Braxton,
Neu!,
KRS-One,
Jacques Brel,
The Wake,
Fugazi,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Vogues,
Thee Headcoats,
Average White Band,
Hot Snakes,
Kenny Larkin,
Tropical Tobacco,
Jacob Miller,
Scrapy,
Idris Muhammad,
A Certain Ratio,
Electric Light Orchestra,
cv313,
Brand Nubian,
Radiohead,
June of 44,
Excepter,
Eric B and Rakim,
Andrew Hill,
Das Ding,
Pantytec,
Simply Red,
David Axelrod,
Index,
Interpol,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Al Stewart,
Ultimate Spinach,
Alison Limerick,
Bad Manners,
Boogie Down Productions,
Harpers Bizarre,
U.S. Maple,
Kerrie Biddell,
Arthur Verocai,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
R.M.O.,
Ohio Players,
Leonard Cohen,
Tres Demented,
Suburban Knight,
David Bowie,
Visage,
X-Ray Spex,
Albert Ayler,
Donny Hathaway,
Franke,
48th St. Collective,
Sight & Sound,
The Doors,
Crooked Eye,
Grauzone,
Faust, Faust, Faust, Faust.
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.