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 Kazakhstan and from Toronto.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 the Normal to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All The Zeros tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every PIL record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a clarinet 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 snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare,
Whodini,
F. McDonald,
Neil Young,
Suburban Knight,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Idris Muhammad,
Rosa Yemen,
The Blackbyrds,
Heaven 17,
Audionom,
Michelle Simonal,
Gang Green,
Qualms,
Todd Rundgren,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Amon Düül,
The Selecter,
Zapp,
Rhythm & Sound,
Stiv Bators,
the Bar-Kays,
Bluetip,
Byron Stingily,
The Moleskins,
Thompson Twins,
Donny Hathaway,
Public Enemy,
Sam Rivers,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Tim Buckley,
Lebanon Hanover,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Alton Ellis,
Fluxion,
Erasure,
Bob Dylan,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Big Daddy Kane,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Boogie Down Productions,
Saccharine Trust,
Unwound,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Skarface,
Franke,
Skaos,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Intrusion,
Prince Buster,
Inner City,
Alison Limerick,
LL Cool J,
Metal Thangz,
Sarah Menescal,
Gang Gang Dance,
John Cale,
Bootsy Collins,
Connie Case,
the Soft Cell,
Chris & Cosey,
Massinfluence,
The Pretty Things,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Ten City, Ten City, Ten City, Ten City.
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.