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 Egypt and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Chrome to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Skriet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yellowson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb 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 harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gap Band,
Country Teasers,
Don Cherry,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Residents,
Danielle Patucci,
Grauzone,
Maurizio,
Barry Ungar,
The Zeros,
Bush Tetras,
Negative Approach,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Knickerbockers,
Babytalk,
Cameo,
Mission of Burma,
In Retrospect,
Agitation Free,
Monks,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Infiniti,
Pussy Galore,
Parry Music,
The Martian,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Slits,
DJ Style,
Q65,
Blake Baxter,
Eric Copeland,
Barclay James Harvest,
MDC,
Howard Jones,
The Names,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Main Source,
Radiohead,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
D'Angelo,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Roger Hodgson,
Andrew Hill,
Suicide,
Robert Hood,
Swell Maps,
Sun Ra,
Hashim,
Brand Nubian,
Average White Band,
Crooked Eye,
The Grass Roots,
Boz Scaggs,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lindisfarne,
Ludus,
Rapeman,
L. Decosne,
Animal Collective,
Young Marble Giants,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bill Wells,
The Monks,
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.