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 Lithuania and from Madrid.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Shadows of Knight to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Stereo Dub. All the underground hits.
All Kayak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Urselle record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 synthesizer and a linndrum 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 marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dead C,
Stereo Dub,
John Lydon,
Joensuu 1685,
Byron Stingily,
Gang Gang Dance,
Scan 7,
Angry Samoans,
Black Pus,
DJ Style,
Erasure,
Niagra,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Crooked Eye,
Leonard Cohen,
Fad Gadget,
New York Dolls,
Television Personalities,
Moebius,
Mission of Burma,
Jawbox,
Bizarre Inc.,
Tears for Fears,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Ralphi Rosario,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Electric Prunes,
Oneida,
June Days,
Nils Olav,
Donny Hathaway,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Selecter,
Deakin,
The Neon Judgement,
Jandek,
Pussy Galore,
Tommy Roe,
The Electric Prunes,
U.S. Maple,
Crispy Ambulance,
Radiohead,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Albert Ayler,
Blossom Toes,
Groovy Waters,
The Five Americans,
The Moody Blues,
Unwound,
Kaleidoscope,
Camberwell Now,
Marcia Griffiths,
the Germs,
Essential Logic,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Mad Mike,
Davy DMX,
Lee Hazlewood,
Amon Düül II,
FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit.
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.