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 Haiti and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise 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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Surgeon to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Alice Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Spandau Ballet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lebanon Hanover 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro 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 arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Carl Craig,
Derrick May,
The Barracudas,
Stiv Bators,
Idris Muhammad,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Technova,
Lindisfarne,
Harmonia,
The Five Americans,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Depeche Mode,
The Buckinghams,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Bad Manners,
Fela Kuti,
Nick Fraelich,
Pussy Galore,
Moss Icon,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sex Pistols,
Tim Buckley,
The Red Krayola,
Joe Smooth,
Skarface,
Donald Byrd,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Marshall Jefferson,
David Bowie,
Andrew Hill,
Newcleus,
Absolute Body Control,
Matthew Halsall,
Albert Ayler,
Wolf Eyes,
Bob Dylan,
Lower 48,
Theoretical Girls,
FM Einheit,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Cheater Slicks,
The Fugs,
The Misunderstood,
Dave Gahan,
Donny Hathaway,
Warren Ellis,
Bobby Womack,
Simply Red,
Franke,
Reagan Youth,
Maleditus Sound,
The Fire Engines,
The Slackers,
The Gun Club,
Clear Light,
Gang Starr,
Wally Richardson,
Ultra Naté,
Excepter,
Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy.
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.