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 Tanzania and from Manila.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Das Ding to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Jerry Gold Smith. All the underground hits.
All Hashim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hoover 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 mellotron and a sitar 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 oboe and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mission of Burma,
Gabor Szabo,
Terry Callier,
Supertramp,
Gerry Rafferty,
Anakelly,
Sparks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
New Order,
Lou Reed,
Schoolly D,
Sixth Finger,
Jeru the Damaja,
Junior Murvin,
Derrick Morgan,
X-102,
Marine Girls,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Dorothy Ashby,
Marcia Griffiths,
Clear Light,
Black Flag,
Mars,
X-101,
John Foxx,
Thompson Twins,
Pussy Galore,
Big Daddy Kane,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Sällskapet,
Los Fastidios,
Crooked Eye,
Neu!,
The Dave Clark Five,
Fugazi,
Spandau Ballet,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Pop Group,
Erasure,
Slave,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Leaves,
Pantytec,
Simply Red,
Black Sheep,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Human League,
Arab on Radar,
Suburban Knight,
Kurtis Blow,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Hoover,
The Skatalites,
Camberwell Now,
Deakin,
Ituana,
Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana.
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.