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 Senegal and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 Stockholm and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba 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 Johnny Osbourne to the techno 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 Livin' Joy. All the underground hits.
All The Mojo Men tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an oboe 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 organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Al Stewart,
UT,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Oblivians,
Sun Ra,
Nils Olav,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Pet Shop Boys,
Matthew Halsall,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Country Teasers,
Banda Bassotti,
Mantronix,
Laurel Aitken,
Kevin Saunderson,
Arthur Verocai,
Avey Tare,
8 Eyed Spy,
Excepter,
Derrick Morgan,
the Fania All-Stars,
Scratch Acid,
E-Dancer,
T. Rex,
Amon Düül II,
Swans,
Y Pants,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Duran Duran,
Ossler,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Motions,
Susan Cadogan,
Half Japanese,
The Black Dice,
Ice-T,
The Slackers,
Deadbeat,
Anthony Braxton,
Chrome,
Hashim,
Letta Mbulu,
Scion,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Dark Day,
Little Man,
The Raincoats,
The Moleskins,
Public Enemy,
The Wake,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bauhaus,
Grandmaster Flash,
OOIOO,
Ohio Players,
the Soft Cell,
The Evens,
Yellowson,
Whodini, Whodini, Whodini, Whodini.
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.