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 Macedonia and from London.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Knickerbockers to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Technova. All the underground hits.
All Metal Thangz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Organ record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 güiro and an organ 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 sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
Accadde A,
Jawbox,
Grandmaster Flash,
Dual Sessions,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Spandau Ballet,
Alphaville,
Junior Murvin,
Josef K,
Don Cherry,
The Last Poets,
Newcleus,
Hashim,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Wake,
the Swans,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Fuzztones,
Harpers Bizarre,
Electric Prunes,
Delta 5,
New York Dolls,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The United States of America,
Fluxion,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Deepchord,
Pantytec,
Porter Ricks,
Blossom Toes,
The Fugs,
Deadbeat,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Quadrant,
Au Pairs,
The Seeds,
Lindisfarne,
Sam Rivers,
The Martian,
Robert Hood,
Letta Mbulu,
Fad Gadget,
Interpol,
Heaven 17,
LL Cool J,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Deakin,
R.M.O.,
Arthur Verocai,
Cheater Slicks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Babytalk,
The Gladiators,
Desert Stars,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Red Krayola,
Duran Duran,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
48th St. Collective,
Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel.
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.