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 Micronesia and from Taipei.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Girls At Our Best! to the funk 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs. All the underground hits.
All Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Terry Callier record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator 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 mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Residents,
Junior Murvin,
Unrelated Segments,
Mission of Burma,
The Red Krayola,
Joe Smooth,
Nation of Ulysses,
Metal Thangz,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Bluetip,
Steve Hackett,
The Leaves,
Chris & Cosey,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Index,
Jawbox,
Scientists,
Erykah Badu,
Funkadelic,
Bill Near,
Crispian St. Peters,
Maurizio,
Todd Terry,
Black Pus,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Sound,
Scan 7,
Underground Resistance,
Bill Wells,
Television Personalities,
The Associates,
the Swans,
EPMD,
cv313,
Bronski Beat,
The Blackbyrds,
The Doobie Brothers,
Barclay James Harvest,
UT,
New Order,
Iggy Pop,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Sonics,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Grandmaster Flash,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Average White Band,
Curtis Mayfield,
Brand Nubian,
U.S. Maple,
Camberwell Now,
Isaac Hayes,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Raincoats,
Minutemen,
Neu!,
The Birthday Party,
Eric Dolphy,
John Coltrane,
Shoche,
Glambeats Corp.,
Archie Shepp,
Kurtis Blow,
Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks.
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.