Spoon

Can were commissioned to write the theme for Das Messer, a thriller directed by Rolf von Sydow, after their earlier success with the soundtrack to Das Millionenspiel. Spoon was the first complete song recorded in the new studio at Weilerswist, and Czukay said the name was chosen as a companion to the knife, less aggressive. It was the first Can recording to combine a drum machine with live drums. The director did not think it fit and had wanted commercial music, but the producers and the head of department insisted it stay. A longer eight-minute version, called Messer, Scissors, Fork and Light, came out on The Lost Tapes.

The single, backed with Shikako Maru Ten, reached No. 6 on the German chart in early 1972 and sold more than 300,000 copies. It was followed by the free concert at the Kölner Sporthalle on 3 February 1972, and Pitchfork noted that the money it earned paid for a better recording environment. The band Spoon took its name from the song, Can named their own label Spoon Records after it, and it was used in Lynne Ramsay's 2002 film Morvern Callar. Sonic Youth and System 7 remixed it for Sacrilege, and elements of the Sonic Youth remix are sampled in Tyler, the Creator's Foreword.