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 Suriname and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Rapeman to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Tim Buckley. All the underground hits.
All The Raincoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every ABBA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 güiro and a sitar 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 linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Bowie,
The Dirtbombs,
Wire,
Junior Murvin,
Sugar Minott,
Drive Like Jehu,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Jerry's Kids,
Sound Behaviour,
Arthur Verocai,
Todd Rundgren,
Gong,
The Golliwogs,
Matthew Bourne,
The Smoke,
Jawbox,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Peter and Kerry,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Surgeon,
DJ Style,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Mummies,
The Residents,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Spoonie Gee,
Kerrie Biddell,
Trumans Water,
Stiv Bators,
Amon Düül II,
Delon & Dalcan,
Fela Kuti,
The Stooges,
Subhumans,
Rod Modell,
Half Japanese,
Godley & Creme,
Marcia Griffiths,
Erykah Badu,
Fear,
Pharoah Sanders,
Echospace,
Juan Atkins,
The Flesh Eaters,
Scott Walker,
the Soft Cell,
Hasil Adkins,
Cluster,
Gabor Szabo,
Youth Brigade,
Barclay James Harvest,
UT,
Robert Görl,
Electric Prunes,
Joensuu 1685,
The Barracudas,
Drexciya,
Marine Girls,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.