From “Euphoria” to “En Corps”, the return to grace of “Vitamin C” by Can, an incredibly modern track from 1972

It’s a haunting piece that turns 50 this year and shows an insolent vitality. His name is Vitamin C, and it is signed by the German group Can, pioneers of krautrock (Germanic experimental rock of the end of the 60s). An avant-garde group which, while remaining underground, has influenced countless rock, punk, post-punk, new wave and electronic formations through its innovations. Today, five decades after its release in 1972 on Ege Bamyasitheir most accessible album, Vitamin C remains of a mad modernity.

Over time, this song has been covered (by Stephen Malkmus, TV On The Radio, Unknown Mortal Orchestra…), sampled (Kurupt, Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich), remixed (by Unkle in 2014), and quoted in films and series, Inherent Vice (2014) by Paul Thomas Anderson (conducted by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood) at The Get Downthe series on the beginnings of hip-hop by Baz Luhrmann (2016-2017), in which Jaden Smith and Raury had adapted it in Losing Your Mind.

Just recently, this piece reappeared in quick succession, a few weeks apart, in the hit HBO series Euphoria, whose second season ended at the end of February, then in the superb feature film by Cédric Klapisch In Body, released at the end of March, around dance. Each time, its contemporaneity jumped out at us.

Series Euphoria shares with us the chaotic daily life of a group of current teenagers adrift (drugs, sex and the quest for identity) in a small American town with suffocating pretenses. Produced by rapper Drake, season 2 is accompanied by a formidable soundtrack, extremely dense, with rarely less than fifteen titles per episode, drawn from all styles and eras, from Curtis Mayfield to Thelonious Monk, Gerry Rafferty , Steely Dan, INXS or Lil Wayne.

In the fourth episode of season 2, rich in action and revelations, Vitamin C surprised us in the 24th minute, as the heroine Rue (Zendaya), completely drugged, is found at night in the back of a getaway car, following the theft of a pack of beers in a store . wedged between bailala by Chiki Di (2022) and Don’t Cha Pussycat Dolls (2009), Vitamin C was like a fish in water, wriggling with youth.

In In Body, Cédric Klapisch’s latest film, which incidentally mentions Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter as musical adviser (does he have something to do with this choice?), the track is even more highlighted. It resonates in a key scene, when classical dancer Élise (Marion Barbeau) discovers Mehdi (dancer Mehdi Baki) breaking like a god during a hip-hop battle. Again, the ease with which Vitamin C fit into the present was stunning.

Why has this piece survived the ages without damage? Where does this modernity come from? We are not talking about an artificial modernity resulting from its re-lighting by such and such, but about a formal modernity. Is it its minimalism, the efficiency of the rhythm section with its very marked tempo, the repetition of the pattern like a sample loop, or the scansion of the Japanese singer Damo Suzuki, which prevented this piece from taking the slightest wrinkle?

For Eric Deshayes, specialist in German rock of the 70s and author of a very comprehensive book on Can (CanLe Mot et le reste editions), the answer lies elsewhere: the modernity of Vitamin C can only be explained by the sound. Because the band from Cologne was a forerunner of sophisticated studio work.

“Can’s musicians did long, very free improvisations in the studio – they had their own studio, a rarity at the time. Once they put that on tape, bassist and sound engineer Holger Czukay was working on the tapes and mixing ahead of time.he explains. It wasn’t done in the pop world at the time, except with the Beatles, who spent a lot of time in the studio during their last years together. On the other hand, it was practiced in contemporary music, especially in France with the pioneers of concrete music Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaefer.“, he enlightens.

The “post modern groove” de Can, a group constantly in search, found its source in a great open-mindedness and a mix of varied horizons. “Two of its members, Holger Czukay (bass) and Irmin Schmidt (keyboards), had studied contemporary music with Karlheinz Stockhausen; drummer Jaki Liebezeit came from free jazz and guitarist Michael Karoli, 10 years younger than the others, was more rock“, emphasizes Eric Deshayes.

As for the group’s first singer, the African-American Malcolm Mooney, “he came from doo-wop and brought a particular scansion and groove then taken over by his replacement, the Japanese Damo Suzuki, who spoke very poor English“. It is the latter that we hear on Vitamin Cchallenge the listener with a “Hey You! You’re losing your vitamin C” (Hey you ! You lose your vitamin C). “I am pleasantly surprisedconcludes Eric Deshayes. Until now, I found that Can was not well enough known in terms of his influence. But I think they’ve taken it up a notch in global recognition now.”