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 Cuba and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the sitar 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 Rapeman 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 Unrelated Segments. All the underground hits.
All Scan 7 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Archie Shepp record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a synthesizer 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 güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABC,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sister Nancy,
Barbara Tucker,
Procol Harum,
The New Christs,
Sixth Finger,
U.S. Maple,
Jawbox,
Index,
Deakin,
Bobby Byrd,
Matthew Bourne,
Nirvana,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Lakeside,
Agent Orange,
Amon Düül II,
Yaz,
Animal Collective,
Unrelated Segments,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Boz Scaggs,
Idris Muhammad,
Moss Icon,
Bobby Hutcherson,
X-Ray Spex,
a-ha,
Minutemen,
Letta Mbulu,
Pussy Galore,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Mars,
The Moody Blues,
June Days,
New Age Steppers,
Piero Umiliani,
Anakelly,
Whodini,
Heaven 17,
Altered Images,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Eric Dolphy,
The Red Krayola,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
the Association,
The Velvet Underground,
Flash Fearless,
Kayak,
The Techniques,
Swans,
Connie Case,
the Swans,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Michelle Simonal,
Sun Ra,
The Buckinghams,
Arthur Verocai,
Yellowson,
Maleditus Sound,
Pierre Henry,
The Birthday Party,
The Electric Prunes, The Electric Prunes, The Electric Prunes, The Electric Prunes.
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.