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 Panama and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Seoul.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Vainqueur to the disco 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 Bobby Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jesper Dahlback record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an arpeggiator 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 chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
La Düsseldorf,
Brick,
Frankie Knuckles,
Crime,
The Beau Brummels,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Electric Prunes,
The Dead C,
Idris Muhammad,
Tropical Tobacco,
Wasted Youth,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Quadrant,
Colin Newman,
The Evens,
Rufus Thomas,
Josef K,
Das Ding,
Crispian St. Peters,
Second Layer,
Dead Boys,
Quantec,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Victims,
AZ,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Ken Boothe,
Ronan,
Bang On A Can,
Niagra,
Interpol,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lebanon Hanover,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Absolute Body Control,
Liliput,
Ponytail,
Von Mondo,
Dave Gahan,
Black Flag,
The American Breed,
the Germs,
Arcadia,
Massinfluence,
Saccharine Trust,
Black Pus,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Deakin,
F. McDonald,
Zapp,
Soul II Soul,
Barrington Levy,
Section 25,
Infiniti,
Quando Quango,
Fatback Band,
Buzzcocks,
Darondo,
Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry.
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.