I Am Damo Suzuki
"I Am Damo Suzuki" is a 1985 song by the English Post-punk band The Fall which first appeared on their album "This Nation's Saving Grace" of that year. It was written in tribute to the Japanese ex-pat vocalist Damo Suzuki from the 1970s Krautrock group Can, who Fall vocalist Mark E. Smith consistently described as his favourite band and a major influence. The lyrics were written by Mark E. Smith, and describe and at times evoke Suzuki's stage presence and singing style. The music was composed by guitarist Brix Smith and drummer  Karl Burns, and is heavily influenced by the 1971 Can song "Oh Yeah", but also contains elements (especially the descending chords) of other their tracks such as "Bel Air" (1973), "Gomorrah" (1974) and "Midnight Men" (1977). "I Am Damo Suzuki" was described in 2022 as a "hypnotic art-rock anthem befitting of [Can's] name", while in 2019 Suzuki biographer Paul Woods wrote that "MES took the 'Oh Yeah' riff and overrode it with a speed-freak surrealist tribute to Can and Damo himself while throwing in an oblique reference to Fritz Leiber, one of a number of supernatural horror  authors who also obsessed him." Music and lyrics. The lyrics were written by Fall vocalist Mark E. Smith, and describe Suzuki's personality, stage presence and at times mimic his singing style. Smith had earlier said that Suzuki's surrealistic lyrics and tendency abandon language, and even have his vocals played backwards in the final mix (as on "Oh Yeah") was a major influence on his own writing and delivery style. Smith's opening lyrics: "Generous of lyric / Jehovah's Witness / Stands in Cologne Marktplatz / drums come in / When the drums come in fast / Drums to shock, into brass evil , evoke both his admiration for the older singer and Can's drummer Jaki Liebezeit. Other lyrics, such as who is "Mr. Herr Stockhausen / Introduce me / I'm Damo Suzuki" indicate how listening to Can had broadened Smith's musical taste. The rhythm heavy music was written by guitarist Brix Smith and drummer Karl Burns. The descending riff is phased in semitones and based on the end section of "Bel Air" from the Can album "Future Days", while Burns' drum pattern is based on "Oh Yeah" from Can's 1971 "Tago Mago" album. Brix wrote in 2017 that while it is  one of her favourite songs she wrote for The Fall, "when I listen to it now I can hear my then technical weaknesses as a player, but in saying that I can also hear complete freedom and a certain creativity that might not have been captured had I played it perfectly". Two separate takes were recorded live during the sessions for "This Nation's Saving Grace" album, but Smith and producer John Leckie could not agree on which one to use. The vocalist preferred the band sound on the first take, and his vocal delivery on the second. As a  solution Leckie spliced parts of the vocals from the second onto first. He said "the two takes had different arrangements, like the verse and chorus came in at different times, so the whole thing gives the impression of being completely random". Because Smith was standing next to Burns during the vocal take, there was inevitably sound leakage when the tapes were merged. According to Leckie, "the drums [were] coming through the vocal mix and every time the drums stop on the first take you can hear these ambient drums going on from the vocal mix on the second take and  I thought it was fantastic and so did everyone else, but a totally unconventional way of doing it." Reaction and influence. Fall basis Steve Hanley said that he met Suzuki years later in a club, and that the singer had approached him with the words "I am Damo Suzuki", and after they had talked Hanley believed Sjuzuki "seemed pleased enough" with the song. Smith and Suzuki had become friends and met a few times by 1985. Suzuki used the song title for his 2019 biography "I am Damo Suzuki". In a 2010 interview, Suzuki said, "I know Mark E. He  is Damo Suzuki as he is still singing this. I thought there is an another Damo Suzuki in this world." The tribute is described in Suzuki's 2019 autobiography as the "ultimate namecheck". The American hip-hop group Injury Reserve sampled parts of the song, mostly the keyboards, for their track "Ground Zero" which appears on their 2021 album "By the Time I Get to Phoenix".