LCD Soundsystem - "Losing My Edge"

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In all seriousness, I don't think anything could be that good.

I'm being serious.

A.V. Alexandre (Keiko), Saturday, 14 September 2002 13:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

one month passes...
he pronounces rakim wrong

ron (ron), Monday, 4 November 2002 06:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

Anyone heard the new single yet?

Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 4 November 2002 14:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

two months pass...
the juan maclean single is really good i think

gareth (gareth), Thursday, 23 January 2003 11:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

eleven months pass...
This is the greatest goddamn 12-inch I've heard in a LONG LONG time. I can't stop playing it. Yes I know I'm about a year and a half too late. I don't care. All together now: "AND NOBODY'S GETTING ANY PLAY!!! IT'S THE SADDEST NIGHT OUT IN THE U.S.A.!!!"

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Saturday, 10 January 2004 08:02 (twenty years ago) link

Did anyone pick up the Shame 69/Negativland 7", 'No Business'? It's madshit hilarious; the Negativland side cuts up 'No Business Like Show Business', dropping new lyrics about artistic thievery. The Shame 69 is a cover of 'Losing My Edge', apparently by my man, Richard X, and includes lyrics about paedophilia and Gary Glitter, which ain't a necessarily cool subject, but I bust a gut anyway.

Barima (Barima), Saturday, 10 January 2004 14:16 (twenty years ago) link

"I heard you have a vinyl of every _____ record, on German import"

If I told you what the blanks are, the song becomes personal self-fulfilling prophecy, doncha know!! "It took me YEARS to find out what he's saying, you think I'ma tell you, twerpy internet seeker?"

Dr. Annabel Lies (Michael Kelly), Saturday, 10 January 2004 20:54 (twenty years ago) link

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 France and from London.
But I was there.

I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.

voice one: To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin.
voice two: I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties.

But I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge, but I was there.
I was there.
But I was there.

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 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City.
I was working on the organ 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 Daft Punk to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGBs.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.

I used to work in the record store.
I had everything before anyone.
I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan.
I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes.
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988.

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 Beach Boys. All the underground hits. All the Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import. I heard that you have a white label of every seminal Detroit techno hit - 1985, '86, '87. I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.

I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.

I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables.
I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.

I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.

But have you seen my records? This Heat, Pere Ubu, Outsiders, Nation of Ulysses, M|A|R|R|S, The Trojans, The Black Dice, Todd Terry, the Germs, Section 25, Althea and Donna, Sexual Harrassment, a-ha, Pere Ubu, Dorothy Ashby, PIL, the Fania All-Stars, the Bar-Kays, the Human League, the Normal, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Monks, Niagra,

voice one: Joy Division, Lower 48, the Association, Sun Ra, [unintelligible]
voice two: Scientists, Royal Trux, 10cc,

Eric B. and Rakim, Index, Basic Channel, Soulsonic Force ("just hit me"!), Juan Atkins, [unintelligible], David Axelrod, Electric Prunes, Gil! Scott! Heron!, the Slits, Faust, Mantronix, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, the Swans, the Soft Cell, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.

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.

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 11 January 2004 01:37 (twenty years ago) link

Oh, and the guy mutters "What just happened?" after the last "You don't know what you really want."

Now, if somebody could just fill in the [unintelligible]s...

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 11 January 2004 01:39 (twenty years ago) link

I'm sure it's probably mars rather than M/A/R/R/S. Otherwise Well done (if you worked this out) and a HUGE THANKS.

jed_ (jed), Sunday, 11 January 2004 04:26 (twenty years ago) link

...also no need to capitalise Daft Punk, i dont think.

jed_ (jed), Sunday, 11 January 2004 04:34 (twenty years ago) link

YOu know, it never occurred to me that he didn't actually mean the band Daft Punk!! But it makes sense, (chrono)logically. I assumed it was a meta-reference the disco punk thing, ie playing disco to punk kids

Sonny A. (Keiko), Sunday, 11 January 2004 04:42 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not gonna kiss you, Mr. Snrub, but y'all done good.

"I'm losing myself"

Barima (Barima), Sunday, 11 January 2004 13:02 (twenty years ago) link

I think you're right. Daft Punk sure as hell never got big in America by being played at CBGB's. Do they even play that kind of music at CBGB's?? I wouldn't know, I've never been there.

Same with the M|A|R|R|S/Mars deal. It's definitely the latter, because a lot of the other bands he mentions (Pere Ubu, PIL, Lou Reed) are post-punky, not house.

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 11 January 2004 17:04 (twenty years ago) link

Plus theres an LCD track called (or known as) "Daft Punk Are Playing at My House" and he sure aint talkin about the frenchband.

jed_ (jed), Sunday, 11 January 2004 17:14 (twenty years ago) link

sorry
"Daft Punk IS Playing IN My House"

jed_ (jed), Sunday, 11 January 2004 17:16 (twenty years ago) link

I don't get it. why would he use the name Daft Punk if he wasn't referring to the band?

Elliot (Elliot), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:07 (twenty years ago) link

it's gotta be the band!

s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:08 (twenty years ago) link

I mean "playing daft punk to the rock kids"--why would that be unusual unless it was the band daft punk?

s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:08 (twenty years ago) link

I know!

Elliot (Elliot), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:09 (twenty years ago) link

totally!

s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:10 (twenty years ago) link

Is it a slow day up north there?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:14 (twenty years ago) link

you have no idea, brah

s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:15 (twenty years ago) link

Well, take off, eh?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:15 (twenty years ago) link

Plus theres an LCD track called (or known as) "Daft Punk Are Playing at My House"

And WHY have I never heard of it before now!?!?!??!

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:39 (twenty years ago) link

it's never been released but you can find it online - if you can't just let me know.

jed_ (jed), Sunday, 11 January 2004 19:23 (twenty years ago) link

it might be called Bitchfight.

jed_ (jed), Sunday, 11 January 2004 19:32 (twenty years ago) link

He's talking about the band Daft Punk.

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 11 January 2004 19:38 (twenty years ago) link

Of course he's fucking talking about Daft Punk the band! Even if he wasn't he'd have to have never heard of them to include it as a lyric.

Isn't Laurent Garnier in the lyric to Losing My Edge somewhere?

Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 11 January 2004 19:43 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe he was talking about the Melody Maker review of the band Darlin' which called them 'daft punk' which led to the ex-members calling their new band that which etc.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 January 2004 19:58 (twenty years ago) link

hahahhah

Elliot (Elliot), Sunday, 11 January 2004 20:14 (twenty years ago) link

this is a design company. pretty funny: http://www.associatesinscience.com/

JaXoN (JasonD), Sunday, 11 January 2004 20:19 (twenty years ago) link

jesus, that almost blew up my speakers. anyone else get a weird low sub-bass hum when they went to that site?

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 11 January 2004 20:21 (twenty years ago) link

wifey freaked out when it was on. told me to mute the computer or she'd mute my face

JaXoN (JasonD), Sunday, 11 January 2004 20:25 (twenty years ago) link

I'm sitting here with my pro studio monitors and computer running through a pro interface and everything, really clear and loud, and my teeth were shaking. And it stayed on even if you clicked on one of the videos. weird.

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 11 January 2004 20:30 (twenty years ago) link

i think the last line is actually "we all know what you really want."
and he is referring to daft punk the band in the other song - it's a what-if kind of scenario about a kid who saved up enough $ to get them over to play his house party in the suburbs.

lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 11 January 2004 21:17 (twenty years ago) link

I was that guy. Or at least I can sympathise.

Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 11 January 2004 21:24 (twenty years ago) link

I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import.

like this one here, on ebay right now!!

http://people.freenet.de/dustyouoff/Niagarafront.JPG

the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 16 January 2004 04:54 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...
I've been reading William Empson, and the idea of 'daft punk' *not* meaning Daft Punk on 'Losing My Edge' is genius.

NRQ, Thursday, 17 February 2005 09:55 (nineteen years ago) link

uh?

Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Thursday, 17 February 2005 10:29 (nineteen years ago) link

it's a case of empson's second variety of ambiguity, where the ambiguity is resolved eventually. playing 'daft punk' to rock kids at cbgbs in the context of the song could just mean playing the ramones in 1975. but it could also mean playing daft punk at some point in the late 90s. both things being epochal. the eventual resolution is, i guess, that we know that murphy intended the 'ambiguity', it's a case of 'clever wording, cheers'.

NRQ, Thursday, 17 February 2005 10:34 (nineteen years ago) link

so not really 'genius' then? (sorry i just get so irked by the over-use of that term)

Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Thursday, 17 February 2005 10:37 (nineteen years ago) link

no, it's not really genius. it's not even scenius.

NRQ, Thursday, 17 February 2005 10:41 (nineteen years ago) link

What ambiguity

Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 17 February 2005 11:51 (nineteen years ago) link

How would the Ramones be a "daft" variation on orthodox punk in '75

Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 17 February 2005 11:55 (nineteen years ago) link

they were daft. and punk. not unorthodox. no-one said they were an unorthodox variation on punk. but they were dafter than television. and punk is a bit daft.

NRQ, Thursday, 17 February 2005 12:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah it WOULD be pretty crazy to play a Ramones rec at CBGBs in 75

Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 17 February 2005 12:16 (nineteen years ago) link

um, no-one said it was 'crazy' either. the lyrics are about being in on the ground floor of canonic musical scenes. not about being crazy, unorthodox, or daft. (you could say '1974' instead of 1975 i suppose, being pedantic.)

NRQ, Thursday, 17 February 2005 12:22 (nineteen years ago) link

This song has one of my fav recent lyrics (actually fuck "one of", it's about the only one that's really got me at all, they're mostly not my thing), and it revolves around EXACTNESS. All the right references, an exact history of the narrator's experiences and credentials as a hipster. Ambiguity doesn't come into it. In fact, ambiguity contradicts its nature and fucks any worth it has. xpost Henry have you HEARD or READ the lyric?

Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 17 February 2005 12:22 (nineteen years ago) link

/the good stuff they've been putting out: Shocking Pinks, Syclops, et al/

ugh, worst things they've put out

wait what?

chinavision!, Tuesday, 18 June 2013 03:48 (ten years ago) link

shocking pinks def in my bottom 5 dfa.

terbil truths (electricsound), Tuesday, 18 June 2013 03:52 (ten years ago) link

Syclops is fucking fantastic, esp the new record

shohreh aja/danteloo (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 18 June 2013 05:12 (ten years ago) link

two months pass...

I noticed that on LCD's first song ("Losing My Edge") and final(?) song ("Home"), the bassline shares the same rhythmic pattern... i.e., that of Killing Joke's "Change".

Intentional or not?

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Sunday, 1 September 2013 05:46 (ten years ago) link

Intentional I think. LCD Soundsystem always seemed like a band that had a terminal "mission" if that makes sense. When they showed up they already had a strong sense of themselves as a project or idea.

Treeship, Sunday, 1 September 2013 05:48 (ten years ago) link

yeah i'd definitely figure it for intentional.

HOOS it because...of steen???? (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Sunday, 1 September 2013 19:07 (ten years ago) link

Pow Pow is the last song they recorded iirc, which also makes sense irt Losing My Edge being their first song.

Van Horn Street, Sunday, 1 September 2013 21:26 (ten years ago) link

one year passes...

bump

Mark, Friday, 3 July 2015 03:29 (eight years ago) link

two years pass...

what a brilliant song to debut your band with

flappy bird, Saturday, 2 September 2017 05:57 (six years ago) link


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