"Unfinished Sympathy" is a song by English trip hop group Massive Attack, released under the temporary group name of Massive. It was written by the three band members Robert "3D" Del Naja, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, the song's vocalist Shara Nelson and the group's co-producer Jonathan "Jonny Dollar" Sharp. The song was released as the second single from the band's debut album Blue Lines, on the band's Wild Bunch label distributed through Circa Records on 11 February 1991. The choice of using the name "Massive" was done to avoid a radio ban as its release coincided with the Gulf War. Produced by Massive Attack and Dollar, the song incorporates various musical elements into its arrangement, including vocal and percussion samples, drum programming, and string orchestration by arranger Wil Malone.

Upon release as a single, "Unfinished Sympathy" topped the Dutch Top 40 and became a top twenty hit on the singles charts of countries including Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The single was accompanied by a memorable music video, directed by Baillie Walsh, featuring a single continuous shot of Nelson walking through a Los Angeles neighbourhood, oblivious of her surroundings. Recognised as a pioneering song in the development of British dance music, "Unfinished Sympathy" was acclaimed by music critics for its distinctive production and Nelson's vocals. It ranked highly on several publications' year-end lists of the best singles of 1991, and has since featured in many polls of the best singles of all time of both music critics and the public worldwide. The song later appeared on the soundtrack to the 1993 film Sliver.

Nelson had known the members of Massive Attack when they were still part of the Bristol sound system collective The Wild Bunch, having been introduced to them by Adrian Sherwood, and had sung vocals on the Wild Bunch's 1986 single "The Look of Love". "Unfinished Sympathy" developed out of a song Nelson had been writing which she had provisionally titled "Kiss and Tell". Hearing Nelson singing the melody to herself in Bristol's Coach House studio during sessions for Blue Lines, the band and producer Dollar encouraged her to develop the song further – as band member 3D later recalled, "We thought, there's something there". The band, Dollar and Nelson worked on the song during a jam session in the studio, using a drum machine, keyboards and Nelson's vocals. It acquired its new name – a pun on Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" – during this session. 3D explained, "I hate putting a title to anything without a theme, but with 'Unfinished Sympathy', we'd started with a jam... and added an orchestral score later. The title came up as a joke at first, but it fitted the song and the arrangements so perfectly, we just had to use it."

...
Wikipedia