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 Burundi and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 808 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 Anthony Braxton to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Black Flag. All the underground hits.
All Jeff Mills tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro 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 a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Clear Light,
ABC,
Kas Product,
Scan 7,
Boz Scaggs,
Simply Red,
Tubeway Army,
Negative Approach,
Dennis Brown,
Aaron Thompson,
Newcleus,
Gang Gang Dance,
AZ,
Drexciya,
Amon Düül,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Black Moon,
Tomorrow,
X-102,
Supertramp,
The Doors,
Sixth Finger,
Bobby Byrd,
Cluster,
The Durutti Column,
Neil Young,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Techniques,
Josef K,
Faraquet,
Brass Construction,
Bill Near,
Derrick May,
Andrew Hill,
The Flesh Eaters,
the Normal,
Don Cherry,
Kevin Saunderson,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Funkadelic,
The Dead C,
Radio Birdman,
Spoonie Gee,
The Five Americans,
The Gladiators,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Pretty Things,
Fat Boys,
Nas,
The Golliwogs,
Dawn Penn,
The Sonics,
Outsiders,
Jeff Mills,
Half Japanese,
The Last Poets,
Byron Stingily,
Laurel Aitken,
Eric Dolphy,
The Beau Brummels,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
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.