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 Burkina and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the oboe 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Zapp. All the underground hits.
All Eyeless In Gaza tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Theoretical Girls 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a guitar 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 theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stetsasonic,
Freddie Wadling,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Black Sheep,
Boz Scaggs,
Stereo Dub,
Wally Richardson,
Saccharine Trust,
Skriet,
Minutemen,
a-ha,
Black Pus,
Moebius,
Echospace,
Bronski Beat,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Gang Starr,
Sister Nancy,
Marcia Griffiths,
Soft Machine,
Mad Mike,
The Sonics,
Technova,
Nas,
Subhumans,
Max Romeo,
Mantronix,
Goldenarms,
Newcleus,
Lower 48,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Dawn Penn,
Severed Heads,
Joensuu 1685,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
David McCallum,
Ice-T,
Dead Boys,
Drive Like Jehu,
Symarip,
Cheater Slicks,
Sonic Youth,
Chris Corsano,
The Black Dice,
The Knickerbockers,
The Dead C,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Organ,
Loose Ends,
Jerry's Kids,
Altered Images,
Slick Rick,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Lou Christie,
This Heat,
Gichy Dan,
Albert Ayler,
Eric Copeland,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.