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 Finland and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Five Americans to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Jawbox. All the underground hits.
All Simply Red tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Laurel Aitken 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar 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 marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Kinks,
Porter Ricks,
Parry Music,
the Fania All-Stars,
Brick,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Gun Club,
Thee Headcoats,
Skaos,
Lungfish,
Ohio Players,
The Dirtbombs,
John Cale,
Sister Nancy,
Motorama,
Aural Exciters,
The Fuzztones,
Tropical Tobacco,
Man Parrish,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bill Near,
Oblivians,
Television Personalities,
Crooked Eye,
Fugazi,
Donald Byrd,
Black Bananas,
10cc,
The Happenings,
Japan,
Albert Ayler,
Sun City Girls,
Mary Jane Girls,
Chris & Cosey,
Colin Newman,
Soulsonic Force,
Depeche Mode,
Donny Hathaway,
Thompson Twins,
Duran Duran,
The Smoke,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Angry Samoans,
KRS-One,
Sällskapet,
Sugar Minott,
Q and Not U,
Intrusion,
Matthew Halsall,
Joensuu 1685,
DJ Style,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Swans,
The Martian,
The Knickerbockers,
Jacques Brel,
Yaz,
The Cure,
Pet Shop Boys,
Average White Band,
The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans.
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.