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 Vanuatu and from Manchester.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Amon Düül II 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 Avey Tare. All the underground hits.
All Quantec tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hardrive record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an arpeggiator 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 theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Motorama,
The Neon Judgement,
The Slits,
The Associates,
The Young Rascals,
Sugar Minott,
The Busters,
Thee Headcoats,
Marc Almond,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Bobby Byrd,
Ohio Players,
Crash Course in Science,
The Doors,
Visage,
The Star Department,
Gil Scott Heron,
Babytalk,
Quando Quango,
Joyce Sims,
Sun City Girls,
Radio Birdman,
Erasure,
Monolake,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Camberwell Now,
Malaria!,
The Index,
Shuggie Otis,
Tom Boy,
Mission of Burma,
Marvin Gaye,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Swell Maps,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Boredoms,
Easy Going,
The Monochrome Set,
Fear,
the Bar-Kays,
Sister Nancy,
Cecil Taylor,
The Flesh Eaters,
Guru Guru,
X-Ray Spex,
Marmalade,
Bad Manners,
Jandek,
Junior Murvin,
New Order,
Radiohead,
Kayak,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Isaac Hayes,
Faraquet,
Joensuu 1685,
Pantaleimon,
Silicon Teens,
Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad.
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.