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 Cyprus and from Tehran.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Unrelated Segments to the dance 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 Blake Baxter. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator 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 spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
ABC,
Barrington Levy,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Scratch Acid,
Dual Sessions,
The Cowsills,
Audionom,
The Happenings,
Sällskapet,
The Techniques,
Theoretical Girls,
The Names,
Derrick May,
Schoolly D,
the Swans,
The Golliwogs,
Surgeon,
Janne Schatter,
Fluxion,
Judy Mowatt,
Gerry Rafferty,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Ultravox,
The Mojo Men,
Fela Kuti,
The Walker Brothers,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ken Boothe,
Moebius,
Altered Images,
ABBA,
Connie Case,
X-102,
The Move,
Eve St. Jones,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
L. Decosne,
The Monks,
Minny Pops,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Lou Christie,
Soulsonic Force,
Spandau Ballet,
Magma,
The Sound,
Suburban Knight,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Basic Channel,
Soul Sonic Force,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Gap Band,
Moss Icon,
The Offenders,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Black Flag,
Minnie Riperton,
The Doors,
Stockholm Monsters,
Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill.
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.