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 China and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar 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 Godley & Creme to the electroclash 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 Bootsy's Rubber Band. All the underground hits.
All Bad Manners tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin 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 sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Zero Boys,
Sandy B,
Quantec,
The Mojo Men,
New York Dolls,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Martian,
Crispian St. Peters,
Robert Hood,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Electric Prunes,
Yazoo,
Ultra Naté,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Divine Comedy,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Blossom Toes,
Mark Hollis,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Angry Samoans,
Bizarre Inc.,
Maleditus Sound,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Patti Smith,
Black Moon,
The Golliwogs,
Motorama,
The Knickerbockers,
Oblivians,
Wire,
Joe Smooth,
Spoonie Gee,
Porter Ricks,
Barry Ungar,
Marmalade,
a-ha,
D'Angelo,
Bob Dylan,
Amon Düül,
Nils Olav,
The Toasters,
Pulsallama,
Davy DMX,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Kas Product,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
the Swans,
Scion,
Funky Four + One,
Masters at Work,
Nation of Ulysses,
Reuben Wilson,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Hasil Adkins,
ABBA,
The Cure,
Mad Mike,
Amazonics,
The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes.
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.