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 Zambia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Janne Schatter to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Graham Central Station. All the underground hits.
All Tom Boy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Panda Bear record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a harpsichord 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 a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Severed Heads,
Letta Mbulu,
The Knickerbockers,
Blake Baxter,
Nation of Ulysses,
Marcia Griffiths,
Boredoms,
Electric Prunes,
Sixth Finger,
Kerri Chandler,
The Busters,
The Mummies,
The Standells,
Liliput,
Yaz,
Wire,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Ponytail,
Yellowson,
Television,
Fluxion,
The Fire Engines,
The Golliwogs,
the Slits,
Tim Buckley,
Junior Murvin,
The Sisters of Mercy,
John Foxx,
The Associates,
Ossler,
Marine Girls,
Supertramp,
The J.B.'s,
Ituana,
Dawn Penn,
Silicon Teens,
Magma,
The Cramps,
Drexciya,
Derrick May,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Crispy Ambulance,
The American Breed,
The Dave Clark Five,
Aural Exciters,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Prince Buster,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Skaos,
Royal Trux,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Velvet Underground,
Delon & Dalcan,
Avey Tare,
Dave Gahan,
Tropical Tobacco,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Young Rascals,
Alton Ellis,
The Litter,
Chris Corsano,
The Fugs,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick.
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.