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 Qatar and from Winnipeg.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Groovy Waters to the rap 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 DeepChord presents Echospace. All the underground hits.
All The Fuzztones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jerry Gold Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ronan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Shadows of Knight,
David Axelrod,
The Music Machine,
K-Klass,
Graham Central Station,
Marcia Griffiths,
Banda Bassotti,
Gil Scott Heron,
Newcleus,
Maleditus Sound,
Roger Hodgson,
Marine Girls,
The Toasters,
Mantronix,
Gerry Rafferty,
T. Rex,
Bobby Womack,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Flash Fearless,
Icehouse,
DJ Style,
The Vogues,
The Sonics,
Derrick Morgan,
Skaos,
Desert Stars,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Ice-T,
Marmalade,
Donny Hathaway,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Black Dice,
Erasure,
Rod Modell,
FM Einheit,
The Dirtbombs,
Bill Near,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lou Christie,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Leaves,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Brothers Johnson,
Schoolly D,
the Association,
Arab on Radar,
Donald Byrd,
Von Mondo,
Swell Maps,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Ronnie Foster,
ABC,
Tubeway Army,
The Fugs,
Cecil Taylor,
Rekid,
Sparks,
Lightning Bolt,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
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.