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 South Africa and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 Glasgow and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Aaron Thompson. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlback tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Y Pants 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba 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 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The New Christs,
Porter Ricks,
Michelle Simonal,
Grauzone,
A Certain Ratio,
Peter & Gordon,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Skriet,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Henry Cow,
Deepchord,
Bush Tetras,
Gong,
Glenn Branca,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Angels of Light,
E-Dancer,
Leonard Cohen,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Guru Guru,
Juan Atkins,
Ituana,
The Real Kids,
Lou Christie,
Mad Mike,
Boogie Down Productions,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Curtis Mayfield,
Terrestrial Tones,
Alice Coltrane,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Laurel Aitken,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Pussy Galore,
Piero Umiliani,
The Searchers,
Black Sheep,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Technova,
Buzzcocks,
Arab on Radar,
Gang Green,
Tommy Roe,
The Beau Brummels,
Camouflage,
The Skatalites,
Sandy B,
The Golliwogs,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Dead Boys,
The Walker Brothers,
Arthur Verocai,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Scientists,
Flash Fearless,
The Gun Club,
Von Mondo,
This Heat,
Wolf Eyes,
Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring.
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.