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 Burundi and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Raincoats to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Pagans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb 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 harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Isaac Hayes,
The New Christs,
Radiopuhelimet,
Moebius,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Rakim,
Ronan,
Swell Maps,
Rhythm & Sound,
Sandy B,
The Black Dice,
Arthur Verocai,
Qualms,
F. McDonald,
Urselle,
Tom Boy,
Flash Fearless,
Barclay James Harvest,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Barracudas,
Public Enemy,
Eve St. Jones,
Bad Manners,
The Fuzztones,
David McCallum,
Grauzone,
Quando Quango,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Fat Boys,
Camberwell Now,
Black Flag,
Fear,
Underground Resistance,
Yazoo,
Blossom Toes,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
the Bar-Kays,
The Moleskins,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Neu!,
The Gap Band,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Animal Collective,
Lebanon Hanover,
Erykah Badu,
Janne Schatter,
Goldenarms,
The Divine Comedy,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Gang Starr,
Ice-T,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pere Ubu,
the Soft Cell,
Archie Shepp,
Reuben Wilson,
X-101,
Schoolly D, Schoolly D, Schoolly D, Schoolly D.
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.