Exchange Lyrics
Yeah, yeah, yeah, ah
You see a man's face
But you don't see his heart
You see a man's face
You will never know his thoughts
[Verse: Horace Andy]
Everywhere you go
There's a man to say love
Never neither, never neither take it to heart
For your heart is your heart
And your thoughts is your thoughts
Never mix love with hatred
[Chorus: Horace Andy]
You see a man's face
You will never see his heart
You see a man's face
But you will never know his thoughts
You see a man's face
You will never know his thoughts
You see a man's face
About
There are two versions of this song: “Exchange”, which is instrumental, and “(Exchange)”, which has vocals by Horace Andy.
“Exchange” is perhaps the song that most obviously references Mushroom’s talents and involvement than any other track on Mezzanine. The Isaac Hayes sample in which the song is heavily based on, was once a popular choice for Mushroom to play as part of his DJ sets in the latter days of The Wild Bunch. When it came time however to get copyright clearance for the use of the sample for Exchange, Massive Attack would encounter a problem with obtaining the rights for the Isaac Hayes sample as the two original writers of the song, Mort Garson and Ben Hilliard were at that stage both dead and the wife of one them refused the sample’s clearance.
Luckily, it was discovered afterwards that the sample that Mushroom had chosen from the Isaac Hayes song (which came specifically from its outro) was in fact written by Isaac Hayes and not the original writers. Isaac Hayes would then allow Massive Attack the use of his sample from the outro to the original song. This close call with running into sample clearance issues and possibly being heavily fined for copyright infringement was among the reasons (both artistic and financial) along with the whole “Black Milk” Manfred Mann sample debacle which would turn Massive Attack away from using samples on their next album: 100th Window.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
“Exchange” is the instrumental 5th track on the album, whilst “(Exchange)” is a bonus vocal version with Horace Andy.
3D on Exchange [Vox Magazine – May 1998]:
That’s one of Mushroom’s tracks. A drunken interlude. That feeling when you’re gambling when your drunk, all your money’s going and there’s nothing you can do.
Mushroom on Exchange [Mojo Magazine – July 1998]:
“That was always one of the records I used to cut up with The Wild Bunch, so I had the label blacked out ‘cos I didn’t want biters to know what it was. We had to do a bit of research to see who the publisher was. Both the writers are dead now but the wife of one of them said we couldn’t use it. Luckily I’d sampled a bit that Isaac Hayes had written into the outro.
- 1.Angel
- 2.Risingson
- 3.Teardrop
- 5.Exchange
- 8.Black Milk
- 9.Mezzanine
- 10.Group Four