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 Kosovo and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Yazoo to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Wally Richardson. All the underground hits.
All Juan Atkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siglo XX record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sunsets and Hearts record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronan,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
PIL,
Kool Moe Dee,
Sun City Girls,
Shoche,
Desert Stars,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
FM Einheit,
Tubeway Army,
The Busters,
Intrusion,
The Techniques,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Moody Blues,
Rites of Spring,
Lebanon Hanover,
Scan 7,
Ash Ra Tempel,
the Swans,
Eurythmics,
Aswad,
Chrome,
Peter & Gordon,
Archie Shepp,
the Slits,
Silicon Teens,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Rod Modell,
Eric Dolphy,
The Divine Comedy,
AZ,
Dennis Brown,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Mojo Men,
Electric Prunes,
Kerrie Biddell,
Terry Callier,
Pussy Galore,
Nirvana,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Ronnie Foster,
Nation of Ulysses,
Minutemen,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Bobbi Humphrey,
UT,
Deakin,
The Count Five,
The Sound,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Khruangbin,
Aaron Thompson,
Depeche Mode,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sugar Minott,
Eden Ahbez,
Dead Boys,
Smog,
Au Pairs,
John Holt, John Holt, John Holt, John Holt.
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.