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 Poland and from Jakarta.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Hoover. All the underground hits.
All Terrestrial Tones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drexciya 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a synthesizer 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 arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacob Miller,
Slick Rick,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Human League,
Popol Vuh,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
John Cale,
MC5,
Quantec,
Hoover,
The Flesh Eaters,
CMW,
Gil Scott Heron,
Colin Newman,
Marc Almond,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lightning Bolt,
Jerry's Kids,
Erykah Badu,
FM Einheit,
Oneida,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gang Green,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Rod Modell,
Mission of Burma,
John Lydon,
Drive Like Jehu,
Rufus Thomas,
Hardrive,
Terry Callier,
June Days,
Kool Moe Dee,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Detroit Cobras,
EPMD,
Eric B and Rakim,
Oblivians,
Pet Shop Boys,
Fugazi,
Average White Band,
Gastr Del Sol,
These Immortal Souls,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Moebius,
Public Image Ltd.,
Rhythm & Sound,
Iggy Pop,
Marcia Griffiths,
World's Most,
Public Enemy,
Glambeats Corp.,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Motions,
The Pretty Things,
Eden Ahbez,
Jeru the Damaja,
Robert Hood,
The Happenings,
Eric Copeland,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Steve Hackett,
Inner City, Inner City, Inner City, Inner City.
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.