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 Australia and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar 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 The Birthday Party to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Searchers. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Count Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba 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 clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rites of Spring,
Fad Gadget,
Guru Guru,
David McCallum,
Boogie Down Productions,
the Fania All-Stars,
Angry Samoans,
Skarface,
Depeche Mode,
Soulsonic Force,
Rosa Yemen,
Aswad,
Mantronix,
The Stooges,
Severed Heads,
A Certain Ratio,
The Velvet Underground,
Funkadelic,
Moebius,
Bush Tetras,
Juan Atkins,
World's Most,
Judy Mowatt,
Steve Hackett,
This Heat,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Alarm Clocks,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
ABBA,
Pere Ubu,
David Axelrod,
Prince Buster,
Harpers Bizarre,
Brick,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Faraquet,
U.S. Maple,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Jacob Miller,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Don Cherry,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Gladiators,
Can,
Unwound,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Sonic Youth,
Letta Mbulu,
Niagra,
The Monochrome Set,
Derrick May,
Mr. Review,
Deadbeat,
The Happenings,
Lee Hazlewood,
Amon Düül II,
Pulsallama,
Khruangbin,
Tom Boy, Tom Boy, Tom Boy, Tom Boy.
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.