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 Bulgaria and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Edmonton.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Mandrill to the rap 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 The Chocolate Watch Band. All the underground hits.
All Patti Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hoover 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare 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 theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pulsallama,
David McCallum,
The Star Department,
Peter and Kerry,
The American Breed,
Jeff Lynne,
Joy Division,
Urselle,
Isaac Hayes,
Fear,
Gerry Rafferty,
Intrusion,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Residents,
PIL,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Moby Grape,
Barclay James Harvest,
Drexciya,
Chris & Cosey,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Pylon,
Letta Mbulu,
Judy Mowatt,
One Last Wish,
Q and Not U,
Mars,
OOIOO,
The Stooges,
Aaron Thompson,
Fatback Band,
Sugar Minott,
Maurizio,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Suburban Knight,
Ituana,
Glenn Branca,
X-102,
Wings,
The Cowsills,
The Wake,
Colin Newman,
The Birthday Party,
La Düsseldorf,
Johnny Clarke,
June of 44,
Neil Young,
Sixth Finger,
Marshall Jefferson,
Skriet,
Accadde A,
Rosa Yemen,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Liliput,
Bobby Byrd,
Nas,
Sex Pistols,
Joensuu 1685,
Laurel Aitken,
A Certain Ratio,
K-Klass,
Minor Threat,
Ludus,
EPMD,
The Doobie Brothers, The Doobie Brothers, The Doobie Brothers, The Doobie Brothers.
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.