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 Antigua and from Salvador.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 EPMD to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Mission of Burma. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blake Baxter 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 marimba and a harpsichord 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 an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang On A Can,
Panda Bear,
Man Eating Sloth,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Yellowson,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Bluetip,
Fluxion,
Roy Ayers,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Cowsills,
Barbara Tucker,
Camouflage,
Harry Pussy,
Josef K,
The Slits,
Juan Atkins,
Sun City Girls,
Joey Negro,
Maurizio,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
T. Rex,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sister Nancy,
David Bowie,
China Crisis,
Black Bananas,
Andrew Hill,
Yusef Lateef,
The Techniques,
DNA,
Joyce Sims,
Outsiders,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Mission of Burma,
Moss Icon,
Gang Gang Dance,
Shuggie Otis,
Lebanon Hanover,
Byron Stingily,
Tomorrow,
Dawn Penn,
New York Dolls,
Sugar Minott,
Boz Scaggs,
Yaz,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Freddie Wadling,
Ultra Naté,
Hashim,
Amon Düül,
Youth Brigade,
Loose Ends,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Birthday Party,
The Cure,
Pantytec,
The Saints, The Saints, The Saints, The Saints.
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.