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 Costa Rica 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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Magma to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Lower 48. All the underground hits.
All Ludus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jacob Miller 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum 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 oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slackers,
Radiohead,
Popol Vuh,
Glenn Branca,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Neon Judgement,
Ken Boothe,
Qualms,
Quantec,
Television,
Susan Cadogan,
Leonard Cohen,
The Slits,
David McCallum,
Outsiders,
Camouflage,
Quadrant,
Essential Logic,
The Smoke,
Arthur Verocai,
Sixth Finger,
Lou Christie,
Yazoo,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Motorama,
DNA,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
JFA,
Dorothy Ashby,
Cameo,
Sun City Girls,
Yusef Lateef,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Infiniti,
Suicide,
Barry Ungar,
Juan Atkins,
Organ,
Bobby Sherman,
The Litter,
Avey Tare,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Trumans Water,
Janne Schatter,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Easy Going,
Sandy B,
Moebius,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Wire,
Surgeon,
B.T. Express,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Maurizio,
Harpers Bizarre,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Echospace,
The New Christs,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Johnny Clarke,
Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling.
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.