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 Kyrgyzstan and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the güiro 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 Gastr Del Sol to the techno 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 The Human League. All the underground hits.
All Fluxion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cabaret Voltaire record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum 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 clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Robert Görl,
Rekid,
Roxette,
Stiv Bators,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Josef K,
June of 44,
Urselle,
Shoche,
The Fall,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Monochrome Set,
Joensuu 1685,
Yusef Lateef,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Derrick May,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Animal Collective,
Depeche Mode,
Sun Ra,
Moss Icon,
X-Ray Spex,
Black Moon,
Fear,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Cheater Slicks,
Mary Jane Girls,
Eve St. Jones,
Peter and Kerry,
Delon & Dalcan,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Nik Kershaw,
Boz Scaggs,
Soulsonic Force,
Gang Gang Dance,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Can,
Marc Almond,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Archie Shepp,
Tropical Tobacco,
Gang Starr,
The Move,
Rosa Yemen,
Main Source,
Sonny Sharrock,
Althea and Donna,
Franke,
Von Mondo,
Lou Christie,
The Blues Magoos,
Stereo Dub,
MDC,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Mark Hollis,
Camouflage,
the Germs,
Newcleus,
Man Parrish,
Visage, Visage, Visage, Visage.
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.