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 Sierra Leone and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Delhi.
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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Slackers to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 10cc. All the underground hits.
All Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gary Puckett & The Union Gap record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a snare 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 marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 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 Divine Comedy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bootsy Collins,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bang On A Can,
Yazoo,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Eric Copeland,
Basic Channel,
Echospace,
Letta Mbulu,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Pierre Henry,
The Birthday Party,
Royal Trux,
Quadrant,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Magazine,
Susan Cadogan,
Kerri Chandler,
Vainqueur,
Masters at Work,
Qualms,
Gang Starr,
The Beau Brummels,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Matthew Bourne,
Marvin Gaye,
Khruangbin,
Visage,
Outsiders,
Oblivians,
The Trojans,
Arthur Verocai,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Second Layer,
Stockholm Monsters,
Juan Atkins,
Mantronix,
Scott Walker,
Big Daddy Kane,
Ice-T,
Tomorrow,
Mars,
Crooked Eye,
Nas,
Man Parrish,
Crime,
Panda Bear,
Lee Hazlewood,
Livin' Joy,
The Last Poets,
The Count Five,
Stereo Dub,
New Age Steppers,
Public Enemy,
Brand Nubian,
Rapeman,
Barclay James Harvest,
Metal Thangz,
Anthony Braxton,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Red Krayola,
Excepter, Excepter, Excepter, Excepter.
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.