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 Benin and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 güiro 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 Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu to the dance 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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar 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 rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eden Ahbez,
Mary Jane Girls,
Desert Stars,
The Evens,
Lou Reed,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Maurizio,
Electric Prunes,
Angry Samoans,
Moebius,
CMW,
Audionom,
Minutemen,
Theoretical Girls,
Cymande,
Harmonia,
Man Parrish,
Barry Ungar,
The Golliwogs,
Basic Channel,
Pantytec,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Anthony Braxton,
Iggy Pop,
Sam Rivers,
Lungfish,
The Velvet Underground,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Drexciya,
Easy Going,
Rufus Thomas,
Stetsasonic,
Monolake,
Surgeon,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
the Germs,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Donald Byrd,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lower 48,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Fluxion,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Don Cherry,
Hashim,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Soul II Soul,
The Grass Roots,
The Fugs,
Nik Kershaw,
Prince Buster,
Mantronix,
The Selecter,
Smog,
The Electric Prunes,
Radio Birdman,
Laurel Aitken,
Silicon Teens,
PIL,
The Doors,
Glenn Branca,
the Human League,
the Swans, the Swans, the Swans, the Swans.
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.