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 Estonia and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Gian Franco Pienzio to the jazz 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 Altered Images. All the underground hits.
All Pylon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cecil Taylor 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare 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 organ and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABC,
Bootsy Collins,
Warren Ellis,
Gil Scott Heron,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Little Man,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Glenn Branca,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Camouflage,
Dead Boys,
the Germs,
Aaron Thompson,
Jimmy McGriff,
Alice Coltrane,
Terrestrial Tones,
Wire,
Outsiders,
John Foxx,
Desert Stars,
Danielle Patucci,
Subhumans,
Lindisfarne,
Roxy Music,
Reuben Wilson,
cv313,
the Association,
X-102,
Eurythmics,
The Cowsills,
Bobby Byrd,
Patti Smith,
Lyres,
Eric B and Rakim,
Donny Hathaway,
Fat Boys,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
PIL,
Alton Ellis,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sparks,
La Düsseldorf,
kango's stein massive,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Hoover,
Supertramp,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Banda Bassotti,
MC5,
Derrick Morgan,
Marcia Griffiths,
These Immortal Souls,
The Monks,
Kerri Chandler,
K-Klass,
Liliput,
Marine Girls,
Suicide,
Janne Schatter,
The Gun Club,
Drive Like Jehu,
Nas,
Flipper, Flipper, Flipper, Flipper.
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.