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 Tajikistan and from Winnipeg.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the guitar 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 Alison Limerick to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 In Retrospect. All the underground hits.
All Lafayette Afro Rock Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin 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 harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mary Jane Girls,
Pere Ubu,
The Neon Judgement,
Procol Harum,
Bobby Byrd,
Cameo,
Scrapy,
Soft Machine,
Young Marble Giants,
Deakin,
Marvin Gaye,
OOIOO,
Joe Smooth,
Unwound,
Spoonie Gee,
Delta 5,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Can,
The Smoke,
Marshall Jefferson,
Prince Buster,
The Gun Club,
Brothers Johnson,
Jeff Lynne,
Infiniti,
Nas,
Robert Görl,
Altered Images,
Aaron Thompson,
Cybotron,
the Association,
the Germs,
The Motions,
L. Decosne,
Graham Central Station,
Nils Olav,
Underground Resistance,
The Gladiators,
Lou Christie,
The Barracudas,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Alton Ellis,
Jacob Miller,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Knickerbockers,
The Busters,
The Pop Group,
Amon Düül,
In Retrospect,
Suicide,
The Monks,
Grandmaster Flash,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
James White and The Blacks,
Bobby Sherman,
F. McDonald,
Supertramp,
Wasted Youth,
Todd Terry,
the Sonics,
Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway.
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.