Losing My Edge

i interviewed James Murphy for DJmag when this came out and asked him whether it was dangerous putting humour into songs and he told me that the message in this is totally serious. he did feel washed up, and to a degree he was. his band had split and he was starting all over again.

obviously the stuff about being at the Suicide practices isn't for real, but is a way of demonstrating that no matter where you've been, you can still come crashing out of the inner circle.

it's all brilliant, but my favourite line is where he admits that the people that have surpassed him are "actually really, really nice." that stops it being bitter and makes the song gives the song a sad edge to go against the humour.

there are so many jokes hidden in this for people who love music that that adds another level to everything. throw in the list of his records at the end and you've got a song that works on so many levels.

i'd rate this as perhaps the best song this century, especially as the production is mindblowing. this record started this current wave of indie dance music. back in 2001 (or there abouts) james told me he wanted to make dance music that was also punk rock - not just layer beats under guitars or lay guitars over a dance track. with this, and House Of Jealous Lovers by The Rapture (which he and Tim Goldsworthy produced as the DFA), he totally achieved that aim.

PS The DFA mix of Dare by the Gorillaz is up there with the best remixes ever. James Murphy is, in my opinion, the most important man in music today. i'm quite a fan.

Oh man, this is so great. I heard it before ALL of you losers.

Ultimately this is a very sad, yet defining song. Passing the buck to the younger generation of music lovers. I like the comment James had about it: 'It still kinda weighs on me a bit', because we keep getting better and better at playing it live." Heh, how ironic. I also like how the website has a picture of a disco ball with pieces missing...brilliant

i disagree this song is not about making fun of hipster culture. i believe its more about his envy that he is no longer a hipster. he is " losing his edge ". he dose not hate the hipsters as many posts suggest

"But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent. And they're actually really, really nice."

his jealousy shows trough in many lines, recalling all the things he has done which could be regarded as cool

"I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids"

also when he reals off the large list of bands i feel he is more frustrated than angry telling you about all the records he owns in an attempt to prove him self worthy of still being cool.

i could be wrong tho who knows

"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 really think it's Peech Boys and not Beach Boys. They fit more in the sentence above due to the fact that they were a garage hip hop band in NYC.

What do you think?

Good Lyrics =)

But the sound "give it up" of lcd, it is more unique

Try to post the lyric.

I'd like to see more LCD lyrics as well. I can't work out some of the lines in On Repeat, for instance.

Great song.

Aboot being cool, and trying too hard and such.

It seems like it's also sort of recalling a lot of underground music history from the 60s, 70s and such. Can, Captain Beefheart, CBGB's, proto-punk, punk & post-punk and dance & electronic.

I didn't know until reading the lyrics that he mentioned PiL (Public Image Ltd), and first time I heard it, I was thinking that it was kind of like a PiL song.

I think it's about an "ageing hipster" type of person. Someone who was there in the beginning of those underground bands in the 60's and 70's, and now he's "losing his edge" to all of the young kids who know all about these bands, trying to be cool. And he's kind of defending himself, telling that even though he's older, he's still cool because he was there in the beginning and he still knows all of this.

It's kind of a little message to all those "indie kids" who consider themselves to be super cool because they think they're the only ones who know about all these bands, and who pick stuff up because it's "cool".