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 Armenia and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Qualms to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Marvin Gaye. All the underground hits.
All Flipper tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marine Girls 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer 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 marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sex Pistols,
The Human League,
Main Source,
Sonny Sharrock,
Cecil Taylor,
Jeff Mills,
Hashim,
ABBA,
the Normal,
Bob Dylan,
Freddie Wadling,
The Star Department,
Excepter,
Massinfluence,
Toni Rubio,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Crime,
New Order,
Qualms,
The Fortunes,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Associates,
Index,
The Moody Blues,
Skriet,
D'Angelo,
Ronan,
The Blackbyrds,
Glambeats Corp.,
Depeche Mode,
China Crisis,
New Age Steppers,
Sparks,
Lightning Bolt,
Frankie Knuckles,
Wolf Eyes,
JFA,
Guru Guru,
the Slits,
B.T. Express,
Shuggie Otis,
Symarip,
Adolescents,
Soft Cell,
Pylon,
Albert Ayler,
Vladislav Delay,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Whodini,
Maleditus Sound,
Robert Hood,
The Alarm Clocks,
Iggy Pop,
Can,
Boredoms,
Sun Ra,
Pharoah Sanders,
Terry Callier,
Quadrant,
Colin Newman,
Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn.
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.