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 Belize and from Lagos.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Pop Group to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Isaac Hayes. All the underground hits.
All Stetsasonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Severed Heads record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe 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 snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Seeds,
Faraquet,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Nation of Ulysses,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
June Days,
Nik Kershaw,
The Misunderstood,
Echospace,
Warsaw,
Ralphi Rosario,
Aswad,
Soulsonic Force,
Sparks,
Cal Tjader,
Gastr Del Sol,
FM Einheit,
Shuggie Otis,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Pharoah Sanders,
X-Ray Spex,
DNA,
B.T. Express,
Ultra Naté,
Judy Mowatt,
Chris Corsano,
Crime,
New Order,
Black Flag,
Chrome,
Kaleidoscope,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Girls At Our Best!,
Aural Exciters,
Newcleus,
T.S.O.L.,
Janne Schatter,
Joe Finger,
Sugar Minott,
John Holt,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Mr. Review,
Severed Heads,
Maurizio,
Danielle Patucci,
Section 25,
David Axelrod,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Blancmange,
The Sonics,
Chris & Cosey,
Soft Machine,
Shoche,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Icehouse,
Neu!,
Scrapy,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.