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 Portugal and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 rhodes 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 The Neon Judgement to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Throbbing Gristle. All the underground hits.
All Camberwell Now tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mark Hollis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 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 clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
The Standells,
Grandmaster Flash,
This Heat,
Terry Callier,
Neil Young,
Pantytec,
Audionom,
Brand Nubian,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sun City Girls,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Radio Birdman,
Porter Ricks,
Drexciya,
The Stooges,
The Tremeloes,
The Gap Band,
Dorothy Ashby,
Judy Mowatt,
T.S.O.L.,
New York Dolls,
10cc,
The Busters,
Amazonics,
Hardrive,
X-102,
Faraquet,
Ronan,
Joensuu 1685,
the Association,
Connie Case,
Gong,
Banda Bassotti,
Interpol,
Guru Guru,
David Bowie,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Masters at Work,
Isaac Hayes,
The Electric Prunes,
Derrick May,
Altered Images,
Althea and Donna,
The Residents,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Toasters,
The Mummies,
Schoolly D,
Roxette,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Pharoah Sanders,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Soul Sonic Force,
Rites of Spring,
Dennis Brown,
Wire,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sexual Harrassment, Sexual Harrassment, Sexual Harrassment, Sexual Harrassment.
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.