Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Losing My Edge by LCD Soundsystem

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.

To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin.
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 CBGB's.
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, Mars, 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,
Joy Division, Lower 48, the Association, Sun Ra,
Scientists, Royal Trux, 10cc,

Eric B. and Rakim, Index, Basic Channel, Soulsonic Force ("just hit me"!), Juan Atkins, 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. [x15]

OKAY, TO BEGIN WITH THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS I HAVE EVER SEEN. IT PERFECTLY CAPTURES GETTING OLDER AND... WELL LOSING YOUR EDGE... LOSING YOUR CREATIVITY. THE LYRICS ARE SO AWSOME.


5 comments:

Aaron said...

This makes me feel better. It's good to know other people have gone through the same thing. It does suck to get older. One minute you are at your peak. You are important. The things you do matter. You are cutting edge. Then suddenly you are old. And our if date. And a new group of younger kids are taking your place. And they don't respect you. And they know things you don't. And the things you do know don't matter. And your edge is lost. And you get slapped in the face. Best video ever. Ever.

Pirate Aggro said...

Told you would would like.

Dan Tschirhart said...

You two have lost your bloomin marbles

I get the point of the song, and what they were trying to represent with the video

But good god, this was your best effort?

I feel they left better ideas on the table

My goodness, I kept hoping for anything to change

He kinda looks like Nick Frost from Hot Fuzz, though

and the song is just autobiographical nonsense mostly

But to end on a positive note - I hope i never hear this song again

Pirate Aggro said...

Sad... for the first time one of your comments made me sad...

Aaron said...

Good work! I'm so proud of you Dan!! Keep it up!!