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 Botswana and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Ornette Coleman to the grime 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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All Basic Channel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wire record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a synthesizer 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 sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
Dennis Brown,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Au Pairs,
Yaz,
Delta 5,
Fugazi,
Roxette,
These Immortal Souls,
Unrelated Segments,
Brick,
Youth Brigade,
The Wake,
Pantaleimon,
Man Eating Sloth,
X-101,
Electric Prunes,
U.S. Maple,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Cure,
Marc Almond,
The Residents,
Ronnie Foster,
The Misunderstood,
Joe Smooth,
Eric Dolphy,
Junior Murvin,
The Skatalites,
Quantec,
Boogie Down Productions,
Scion,
Smog,
Arthur Verocai,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Pulsallama,
Lou Reed,
Mission of Burma,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Jerry's Kids,
Fear,
Spandau Ballet,
Easy Going,
the Sonics,
UT,
Ultimate Spinach,
Swans,
Isaac Hayes,
Skriet,
Flamin' Groovies,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Terry Callier,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Glambeats Corp.,
Q65,
The Victims,
Bizarre Inc.,
Outsiders,
Quando Quango,
Swell Maps,
Sun Ra,
Danielle Patucci,
Duran Duran,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Kas Product, Kas Product, Kas Product, Kas Product.
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.