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 Colombia and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Robert Hood to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Harpers Bizarre. All the underground hits.
All The Golliwogs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Knickerbockers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 rhodes and a clarinet 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 chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
F. McDonald,
Intrusion,
Cameo,
La Düsseldorf,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ken Boothe,
Zapp,
Lakeside,
Robert Görl,
Sexual Harrassment,
Neu!,
Jerry's Kids,
James White and The Blacks,
Throbbing Gristle,
Gil Scott Heron,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Crispy Ambulance,
Shoche,
The Doors,
Moebius,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Livin' Joy,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Maleditus Sound,
Roy Ayers,
Mo-Dettes,
The Standells,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kurtis Blow,
Robert Hood,
Q and Not U,
Shuggie Otis,
The United States of America,
Aswad,
MDC,
Harmonia,
Tomorrow,
Hasil Adkins,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Man Parrish,
Sound Behaviour,
Eden Ahbez,
Quantec,
Scientists,
The Vogues,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Cal Tjader,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Masters at Work,
Pulsallama,
Essential Logic,
Saccharine Trust,
Neil Young,
The Evens,
Clear Light,
Fatback Band,
Swans,
Absolute Body Control,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Names, The Names, The Names, The Names.
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.