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 Thailand and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Eli Mardock to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Bauhaus. All the underground hits.
All Nils Olav tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ten City record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 chamberlin 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 clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Siglo XX,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Junior Murvin,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Eli Mardock,
Matthew Halsall,
Black Flag,
Blake Baxter,
Faraquet,
Bobby Byrd,
Byron Stingily,
Tubeway Army,
The Monks,
Urselle,
Flamin' Groovies,
Popol Vuh,
Chrome,
Bauhaus,
Radio Birdman,
Deadbeat,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Harpers Bizarre,
Man Parrish,
Young Marble Giants,
The Searchers,
Fugazi,
Motorama,
Marmalade,
The Remains,
Hot Snakes,
Lungfish,
Dorothy Ashby,
Todd Terry,
Crime,
In Retrospect,
Symarip,
Rufus Thomas,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Cramps,
The Seeds,
Johnny Clarke,
The Count Five,
Groovy Waters,
Sällskapet,
Schoolly D,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Vainqueur,
Kerrie Biddell,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Radiohead,
Aaron Thompson,
The Offenders,
Jesper Dahlback,
ABBA,
Goldenarms,
The Five Americans,
Scott Walker,
The Victims,
Yusef Lateef,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.