Protection (Massive Attack song)

"Protection"
Single by Massive Attack with Tracey Thorn
from the album Protection
B-side"Three" (remix)
Released9 January 1995 (1995-01-09)[1]
Genre
Length
  • 7:51 (album version)
  • 4:53 (single edit)
Label
  • Wild Bunch
  • Circa
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Massive Attack singles chronology
"Sly"
(1994) 		"Protection"
(1995) 		"Karmacoma"
(1995)
Music video
"Protection" on YouTube

"Protection" is a collaboration between English trip hop collective Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn from English duo Everything but the Girl. The song appears on Massive Attack's second studio album, Protection (1994). Released as a single on 9 January 1995 by Wild Bunch and Circa, "Protection" reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart, staying on the chart for four weeks, and also peaked at number 27 in New Zealand. Michel Gondry directed the accompanying music video. The song was also included on Everything but the Girl's compilation The Best of and Like the Deserts Miss the Rain.

The song contains samples taken from "The Payback" by James Brown,[2] namely the hi-hat/bass figure that drives the beat and the recurrent wah-wah guitar chord.

  1. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 7 January 1995. p. 13. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Search". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2010.