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 Slovakia and from Philadelphia.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish to the rap 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 Yusef Lateef. All the underground hits.
All L. Decosne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mr. Review 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a chamberlin 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 snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Jeff Mills,
Sällskapet,
Eurythmics,
Robert Görl,
Bang On A Can,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Section 25,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Peter and Kerry,
ABBA,
Kevin Saunderson,
Lou Christie,
Duran Duran,
the Slits,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Angels of Light,
Y Pants,
La Düsseldorf,
Moby Grape,
Index,
The Doors,
Hashim,
Gichy Dan,
Television,
Charles Mingus,
The Count Five,
Unwound,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Doobie Brothers,
Connie Case,
The Golliwogs,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Matthew Halsall,
Spandau Ballet,
Ornette Coleman,
Arcadia,
Iggy Pop,
Fat Boys,
Motorama,
The Tremeloes,
Ponytail,
Laurel Aitken,
The Monochrome Set,
Agent Orange,
Boz Scaggs,
Radio Birdman,
Black Bananas,
Marmalade,
Juan Atkins,
The Young Rascals,
Swans,
Make Up,
Soul II Soul,
Pole,
Donny Hathaway,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Knickerbockers,
The Walker Brothers,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler.
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.