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 Dominica and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 Portland and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Fatback Band to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Drexciya. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Don Cherry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 clarinet 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 guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Hasil Adkins,
The Toasters,
K-Klass,
Pantaleimon,
The Shadows of Knight,
Thompson Twins,
Black Bananas,
the Bar-Kays,
Graham Central Station,
Byron Stingily,
AZ,
DJ Sneak,
The Busters,
Joy Division,
Minnie Riperton,
Jimmy McGriff,
Hot Snakes,
Kurtis Blow,
Porter Ricks,
Jacob Miller,
Qualms,
Minor Threat,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Howard Jones,
Masters at Work,
La Düsseldorf,
The Moleskins,
the Germs,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
MDC,
Jerry's Kids,
Yazoo,
DNA,
Jeff Mills,
the Association,
The Kinks,
Robert Hood,
Little Man,
Lalo Schifrin,
Ludus,
Deadbeat,
Delta 5,
Ornette Coleman,
Lungfish,
Tim Buckley,
Los Fastidios,
The Beau Brummels,
Gang of Four,
X-101,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gregory Isaacs,
In Retrospect,
ABC,
Man Parrish,
The Smiths,
Young Marble Giants,
Colin Newman,
Brick,
Bill Near,
Barbara Tucker,
Cecil Taylor,
Curtis Mayfield,
The New Christs, The New Christs, The New Christs, The New Christs.
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.