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  1. Tracks
  2. Massive Attack
  3. Mezzanine
  4. Risingson
Risingson by Massive Attack

SINGLE

Massive Attack

Risingson

Release date: 16th April 1998

From Mezzanine
Track 2
4:59
ElectronicMusicJazzBop
Spotify Apple Music More on Massive Attack

About This Track

Massive Attack's 'Risingson' emerges from the Bristol club scene, a portrait of bodies and desire caught in the strobing dark. The track moves through mirrors and bathroom sinks, through the grinding physicality of the dancefloor, with a narrator trying to locate themselves in the presence of another. There's a restlessness here, a tension between wanting to stay and needing to leave, between the pull of attraction and the exhaustion it brings. The song builds its power through repetition and texture rather than narrative clarity. Toy-like people make me boy-like, the refrain insists, a phrase that collapses agency and identity into something plastic and strange. The production wraps these observations in layers of bass and echo, the rhythm pushing forward even as the lyrics circle back on themselves. By the end, the voice has worn the words smooth: dream on, dream on, a mantra that might be resignation or might be defiance, depending on how you hear it.

"Risingson" is a single by Massive Attack, from the album Mezzanine, released 16th April 1998. The track is 4:59 long. It's filed under Electronic. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 9 articles about Massive Attack.

About the Artist

Massive Attack

Massive Attack

Lyrics

Risingson

I seen you go down to a cold mirror
It was never clearer in my era so
You lick a shine upon your forehead or
Check it by the signs in the corridor
You light my ways through the club maze
We would struggle through the dub daze

I see myself in there upon my lover
It's how you go down to the men's room sink
Sad we talk of how madmen think
I see myself in there upon my lover
I don't know her from another miss
I don't know you from another
See me run now you're gone, dream on

Why you want to take me to this party and breathe
I'm dying to leave
Every time we grind we know we severed lines
Where have all those flowers gone
Long time passing
Why you keep me testing, keep me tasking
You keep on asking

Toy-like people make me boy-like
Toy-like people make me boy-like
They're invisible, when the trip it flips
They get physical, way below my lips
And everything you got hoi polloi like
Now you're lost and you're lethal
And now's about the time you gotta leave all
These good people dream on

Nicer than the bird up in the tree top
Cheaper than the chip inside my laptop
All the variations you could do with me
Nicer than the girl up in your mind, you're free

Automatic crystal remote control
They come to move your soul
You're gonna fade into the background
Like a better smoke will bring you back 'round
Like a man slide inside you my dear
Your cheap beer's filled with crocodile tears
See 'em run now you're gone, dream on

Toy-like people make me boy-like
Toy-like people make me boy-like
I found a reason

I found a reason

Dream on

Dream on
Dream on

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From Mezzanine

4:591998Single
Listen
Album
Mezzanine
Mezzanine
Massive Attack
17th April 1998
Track number
2
Release year
1998
  1. 1Angel
    6:20
  2. 2Risingson
    4:59
  3. 3Teardrop
    5:31
  4. 4Inertia Creeps
    5:57
Watch the music video

Massive Attack — Risingson

Massive Attack — Risingson
5:00

 

Risingson

More from Massive Attack

Albums & EPs

Act 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
2025
Ceasefire
Ceasefire
2024
Mezzanine (Deluxe)
Mezzanine (Deluxe)
2019
Ritual Spirit - EP
Ritual Spirit - EP
2016
Atlas Air
Atlas Air
2010
Heligoland
Heligoland
2010

Explore

More tracks by Massive Attack

  1. AngelAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
  2. Black MilkAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
  3. Girl I Love YouAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
  4. Group FourAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
  5. Inertia CreepsAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
    5:57
  6. KarmacomaAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
  7. RisingsonAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
  8. Safe From HarmAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
  9. Take It ThereAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator
  10. TeardropAct 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator

Showing 10 of 50

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5Exchange
4:11
  • 6Dissolved Girl
    6:07
  • 7Man Next Door
    5:56
  • 8Black Milk
    6:22
  • 9Mezzanine
    5:57
  • 10Group Four
    8:12
  • 11(Exchange)
    4:11
  • —Exchange (Instrumental)
  • Credits

    Production & Engineering

    Writer
    Andrew “Mushroom” Vowles, Grantley “Daddy G” Marshall, Lou Reed, Pete Seeger, Robert “3D” del Naja
    Producer
    Massive Attack, Neil Davidge
    Bass
    Bob Locke, Jon Harris, Winston Blissett
    Drums
    Andy Gangadeen
    Guitar
    Angelo Bruschini, Robert “3D” del Naja
    Keyboards
    Andrew “Mushroom” Vowles, Grantley “Daddy G” Marshall, Neil Davidge, Robert “3D” del Naja
    Vocals
    Grantley “Daddy G” Marshall, Robert “3D” del Naja
    Additional Keyboards
    Dave Jenkins, Michael Timothy
    Art Direction
    Robert “3D” del Naja, Tom Hingston
    Assistant Mixing Engineer
    Jan “Stan” Kybert, Paul Walton
    Cuts
    Tim Young
    Graphic Design
    Robert “3D” del Naja, Tom Hingston
    Lacquer Cut At
    Metropolis Studios, Chiswick, LDN
    Mixing Engineer
    Mark “Spike” Stent
    Photography
    Nick Knight
    Programmer
    Andrew “Mushroom” Vowles, Grantley “Daddy G” Marshall, Neil Davidge, Robert “3D” del Naja
    Recording Engineer
    Lee Shephard
    Sampling
    Andrew “Mushroom” Vowles, Grantley “Daddy G” Marshall, Neil Davidge, Robert “3D” del Naja
    READ MORE ABOUT MASSIVE ATTACKREAD MORE ABOUT MASSIVE ATTACKREAD MORE ABOUT MASSIVE ATTACKREAD MORE ABOUT MASSIVE ATTACK
    READ MORE ABOUT MASSIVE ATTACKREAD MORE ABOUT MASSIVE ATTACKREAD MORE ABOUT MASSIVE ATTACKREAD MORE ABOUT MASSIVE ATTACK
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