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 Liechtenstein and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Young Rascals to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Jacques Brel. All the underground hits.
All The Monochrome Set tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Hill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an arpeggiator and a harpsichord 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 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kerrie Biddell,
Bang On A Can,
Scratch Acid,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
48th St. Collective,
Cheater Slicks,
T. Rex,
Albert Ayler,
Darondo,
Dual Sessions,
Supertramp,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Average White Band,
X-101,
Boredoms,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Spandau Ballet,
Tom Boy,
Scan 7,
Don Cherry,
Vladislav Delay,
Susan Cadogan,
Niagra,
Ossler,
Peter & Gordon,
Jeru the Damaja,
Blossom Toes,
Angry Samoans,
John Lydon,
Can,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Mo-Dettes,
Vainqueur,
Mary Jane Girls,
Byron Stingily,
Eddi Front,
The Slackers,
ABBA,
Traffic Nightmare,
the Slits,
Dead Boys,
Young Marble Giants,
Banda Bassotti,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Smoke,
Cymande,
The Grass Roots,
The Flesh Eaters,
Q and Not U,
Zero Boys,
The Seeds,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Audionom,
Faust,
Surgeon,
Sam Rivers,
The Associates,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Joe Smooth,
Trumans Water,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Toni Rubio,
Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco.
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.