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 Bahrain and from London.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Mo-Dettes 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 Girls At Our Best!. All the underground hits.
All Al Stewart tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Monochrome Set record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro 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 snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Porter Ricks,
E-Dancer,
Aaron Thompson,
Simply Red,
Pole,
Yellowson,
Barry Ungar,
The Leaves,
Marvin Gaye,
In Retrospect,
Blake Baxter,
Half Japanese,
Quadrant,
Goldenarms,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Au Pairs,
Dual Sessions,
Depeche Mode,
Sister Nancy,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Sarah Menescal,
Eden Ahbez,
The Moleskins,
The United States of America,
Kerri Chandler,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
MC5,
The Cure,
Television,
Flamin' Groovies,
Basic Channel,
Danielle Patucci,
The Alarm Clocks,
Fat Boys,
Vainqueur,
Judy Mowatt,
Cal Tjader,
Second Layer,
Yazoo,
Piero Umiliani,
Yusef Lateef,
Dennis Brown,
Altered Images,
Josef K,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Slits,
Blossom Toes,
Matthew Halsall,
The Standells,
The Dirtbombs,
Skarface,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Eve St. Jones,
Qualms,
Pagans,
John Lydon,
Sam Rivers,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Ituana,
Soulsonic Force,
The Fire Engines,
Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne.
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.