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 Libya and from Delhi.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the snare 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 The Count Five to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Mojo Men. All the underground hits.
All Thompson Twins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harpers Bizarre record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 808 and a theremin 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 marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Halsall,
Swans,
Ituana,
DJ Style,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Cure,
Soul Sonic Force,
Banda Bassotti,
Tubeway Army,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Sight & Sound,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Heaven 17,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Gregory Isaacs,
This Heat,
Altered Images,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Camberwell Now,
Sandy B,
Symarip,
Hasil Adkins,
Matthew Bourne,
Marine Girls,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Johnny Clarke,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Ponytail,
10cc,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Terrestrial Tones,
Yazoo,
Make Up,
Unwound,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Crime,
Delon & Dalcan,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Move,
Jesper Dahlback,
Guru Guru,
Cameo,
Panda Bear,
Girls At Our Best!,
Roger Hodgson,
Aural Exciters,
Laurel Aitken,
Gong,
Hashim,
The Index,
Wings,
June Days,
Curtis Mayfield,
Mantronix,
Sam Rivers,
The Happenings,
LL Cool J,
Bob Dylan,
Country Teasers,
The Neon Judgement,
The Fall,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.