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 Brunei and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Judy Mowatt to the electroclash 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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Angels of Light & Akron/Family 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet 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 organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Byron Stingily,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Doors,
Rotary Connection,
Surgeon,
Stiv Bators,
The Sound,
Magma,
Rosa Yemen,
The Fuzztones,
Yazoo,
John Coltrane,
Aloha Tigers,
Albert Ayler,
Aural Exciters,
Donald Byrd,
Absolute Body Control,
Andrew Hill,
Pet Shop Boys,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Raincoats,
Mr. Review,
The Monks,
Quando Quango,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Wolf Eyes,
New York Dolls,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Depeche Mode,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Music Machine,
Soul II Soul,
The Cramps,
Maurizio,
Black Sheep,
Quadrant,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Fugs,
Rapeman,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Matthew Bourne,
Los Fastidios,
Sex Pistols,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Marmalade,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Red Krayola,
Aaron Thompson,
Whodini,
The Barracudas,
Skriet,
Saccharine Trust,
Fat Boys,
Bobby Womack,
Kenny Larkin,
Second Layer,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Animal Collective,
Barrington Levy,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.