Hand in Glove
Encyclopedia
"Hand in Glove" is a song by the British alternative rock
band The Smiths
, written by singer Morrissey
and guitarist Johnny Marr
. It was released as the band's first single in May 1983 on independent record label
Rough Trade Records
. "Hand in Glove" peaked at number three on the UK Indie Chart
, but did not make the pop charts. A remixed version of the song was featured on the band's debut album, The Smiths
, in 1984. That same year, a cover version
recorded by singer Sandie Shaw
featuring Smiths members Marr, Andy Rourke
, and Mike Joyce as backing musicians reaching number 27 on the UK Singles Chart
.
The Smiths asked their manager Joe Moss to fund the recording of "Hand in Glove". In late February, the group booked a one-day recording session at Strawberry Studios in Stockport
at the cost of £250, which they produced themselves. Morrissey claimed in later years that he was dissatisfied with his vocal and returned a week later to re-record his part, the day after which the entire group travelled to London and convinced Rough Trade owner Geoff Travis
to release the record. However, author Simon Goddard noted that it was not until April 1983 that Marr and bassist Andy Rourke visited the Rough Trade offices. On that occasion, Marr handed Travis a cassette featuring "Hand In Glove" and a live recording of "Handsome Devil", telling Travis, "[L]isten to this, it's not just another tape". Impressed, Travis promised he would. The following Monday, Travis called the group and invited them back to London to release "Hand in Glove" as a single. Both parties agreed to release the single as a temporary arrangement before agreeing to any long-term partnership.
Two months after the single's release, The Smiths recorded the song again during aborted sessions for their debut album with producer Troy Tate
. This version was recorded a tone lower than the original in the key of F# minor, and features a shorter introduction. The Smiths recorded the song again with producer John Porter
in October at Manchester's Pluto Studios. Morrissey rejected this version of the song. Due to impending deadlines, the version that ultimately appeared on the band's first album The Smiths was a remix of the original master recording from the Strawberry Studios session. For this version, Porter increased the separation between Marr's guitar tracks and Morrissey's vocals, emphasised drummer Mike Joyce's drum beat, pushed Rourke's bass back in the mix, and created a more dramatic opening and conclusion to the song.
over the rest of the music. Simon Goddard wrote that Marr's use of the instrument "purposefully evoked the very same 'blunt vitality of working-class "northerness" that Ian McDonald attributes to The Beatles
' parallel 1962 single 'Love Me Do
', though infinitely more melancholy." Of the backing music, Goddard wrote, "Marr's redolent minor chord wash weeps with a rain-soaked hopelessness while Rourke contributes one of his most inspired bass patterns".
Morrissey explained that the song's theme was "complete loneliness" going on to state: "It was important to me that that there'd be something searingly poetic about it, in a lyrical sense, and yet jubilant at the same time." Goddard described "Hand in Glove" as "a bleak proclamation of doomed happiness [. . .] a shattering left-hook of self-loathing, loss and desperation". Years later Morrissey considered the song to be the group's "most special". The singer said he was particularly proud the song's second verse, which included the lines "Though we may be hidden by rags/We have something they'll never have". Morrissey explained that the verse described "how I felt when I couldn't afford clothes and used to dress in rags but I didn't really feel mentally impoverished".
In the song's lyrics, Morrissey referenced works by playwright Shelagh Delaney
, whom he would reference in several later songs. The song's line "I'll probably never see you again" appears in Delaney's A Taste of Honey
and The Lion in Love. Morrissey paraphrased the line "Everything depends upon how near you stand next to me" from the 1974 Leonard Cohen
song "Take This Longing". Goddard conjectures that the song's title was inspired by the 1947 detective novel Hand in Glove
by Ngaio Marsh
.
, it reached number three on the UK Indie Chart
. Its relative success earned the group a listing in the Guinness Book of Records in January 1984 when it and the group's next two singles' "This Charming Man
" and "What Difference Does It Make?
"' held the top three position on the UK Indie Chart. "It should have been a massive hit", Morrissey later said, "it was so urgent. To me, it was a complete cry in every direction. It really was a landmark." The single did raise the band's profile; a week after its release the band gained its first major live reviews in the music press, which in turn led to their first radio session with BBC Radio 1
disc jockey John Peel
.
While reviewing a 1983 concert by The Smiths and The Go-Betweens
at The Venue in London, Barney Hoskyns
, writing for the NME
, described "Hand in Glove" as "one of the year's few masterpieces, a thing of beauty and a joy forever". In the 1984 edition of The Rock Yearbook, Hoskyns said the song "swept into my heart". Bill Black, writing for Sounds
, described it as a "daunting" debut. Writing for Allmusic, Ned Raggett calls the song a "stunning, surprising debut" and describes the music as "sparkling" stating that it relied on Marr's "careful overdubbing of acoustic and electric guitars". Raggett went on to describe Rourke's bass and Joyce's drumming as "spare but effective", and claimed that Joyce "especially shone".
, taken from Margaret Walters' history The Nude Male. The sleeve's homoerotic undertones elicited the reaction Morrissey was hoping for of unease and outrage. Rourke noted when he showed the recording to his parents his father was "mortified. He said to me, 'that's a bloke's bum' and I said, 'yeah' but when he asked me why I just didn't have an answer for him'".
Shaw was eventually won over by the intervention of Geoff Travis and by Morrissey's praise of her in the press. In January 1984, NME
announced that Shaw and The Smiths would release a collaborative recording of "I Don't Owe You Anything" as a single on Rough Trade. In February, Shaw and The Smiths journeyed to Matrix Studios in London, where Shaw recorded three Smiths songs with Marr, Joyce and Rourke. The version of "Hand in Glove" recorded at Matrix was performed in the key of D minor, while Marr placed the intro riff
's accent on a major scale and Shaw altered some lyrics. Shaw ended up selecting their recording of "Hand in Glove" as the single's a-side, placing "I Don't Owe You Anything" as the b-side.
Released as a single in April 1984 solely under Shaw's name, the recording became Shaw's first hit in a decade when it reached number 27 on the UK Singles Chart. Marr, Rourke and Joyce backed Shaw on two mimed television performances of the song, first on Channel 4
's Earsay in March 1984, and then on Top of the Pops
on 26 April, where the band appeared barefoot in homage to the singer, who did so often in the 1960s.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
, written by singer Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
and guitarist Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
. It was released as the band's first single in May 1983 on independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
. "Hand in Glove" peaked at number three on the UK Indie Chart
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
, but did not make the pop charts. A remixed version of the song was featured on the band's debut album, The Smiths
The Smiths (album)
Before their debut album, single "What Difference Does It Make?" was released in January 1984. The track peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. Released in February 1984, The Smiths debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart....
, in 1984. That same year, a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
recorded by singer Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
featuring Smiths members Marr, Andy Rourke
Andy Rourke
Andy Rourke is a bass guitarist best known for being a former member of The Smiths.-Career:...
, and Mike Joyce as backing musicians reaching number 27 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Background and recording
Morrissey and Marr wrote "Hand in Glove" in January 1983, between the second and third gigs The Smiths ever played. Morrissey claimed that after Marr gave him a demo cassette of the song, he went home and wrote lyrics for it in the span of two hours, conscious of the fact that it would be the group's first recorded work. Even prior to performing the song live, the group was unanimous in the opinion that "Hand In Glove" was their strongest song to date.The Smiths asked their manager Joe Moss to fund the recording of "Hand in Glove". In late February, the group booked a one-day recording session at Strawberry Studios in Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
at the cost of £250, which they produced themselves. Morrissey claimed in later years that he was dissatisfied with his vocal and returned a week later to re-record his part, the day after which the entire group travelled to London and convinced Rough Trade owner Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978.-Biography:...
to release the record. However, author Simon Goddard noted that it was not until April 1983 that Marr and bassist Andy Rourke visited the Rough Trade offices. On that occasion, Marr handed Travis a cassette featuring "Hand In Glove" and a live recording of "Handsome Devil", telling Travis, "[L]isten to this, it's not just another tape". Impressed, Travis promised he would. The following Monday, Travis called the group and invited them back to London to release "Hand in Glove" as a single. Both parties agreed to release the single as a temporary arrangement before agreeing to any long-term partnership.
Two months after the single's release, The Smiths recorded the song again during aborted sessions for their debut album with producer Troy Tate
Troy Tate
Troy Tate is a musician and record producer who was a member of several bands including The Teardrop Explodes and Fashion as well as working as a solo artist.-Biography:...
. This version was recorded a tone lower than the original in the key of F# minor, and features a shorter introduction. The Smiths recorded the song again with producer John Porter
John Porter (musician)
John Porter is an English musician and record producer.-Biography:He attended St Michael's School, Allerton Grange School, King's College, and Newcastle University....
in October at Manchester's Pluto Studios. Morrissey rejected this version of the song. Due to impending deadlines, the version that ultimately appeared on the band's first album The Smiths was a remix of the original master recording from the Strawberry Studios session. For this version, Porter increased the separation between Marr's guitar tracks and Morrissey's vocals, emphasised drummer Mike Joyce's drum beat, pushed Rourke's bass back in the mix, and created a more dramatic opening and conclusion to the song.
Composition and lyrics
The original recorded version of "Hand in Glove" is in the key of G# minor. The song begins with an overdub of Marr playing a harmonicaHarmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
over the rest of the music. Simon Goddard wrote that Marr's use of the instrument "purposefully evoked the very same 'blunt vitality of working-class "northerness" that Ian McDonald attributes to The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' parallel 1962 single 'Love Me Do
Love Me Do
"Love Me Do" is The Beatles' first single, backed by "P.S. I Love You" and released on 5 October 1962. When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom, it peaked at number seventeen; in 1982 it was re-issued and reached number four...
', though infinitely more melancholy." Of the backing music, Goddard wrote, "Marr's redolent minor chord wash weeps with a rain-soaked hopelessness while Rourke contributes one of his most inspired bass patterns".
Morrissey explained that the song's theme was "complete loneliness" going on to state: "It was important to me that that there'd be something searingly poetic about it, in a lyrical sense, and yet jubilant at the same time." Goddard described "Hand in Glove" as "a bleak proclamation of doomed happiness [. . .] a shattering left-hook of self-loathing, loss and desperation". Years later Morrissey considered the song to be the group's "most special". The singer said he was particularly proud the song's second verse, which included the lines "Though we may be hidden by rags/We have something they'll never have". Morrissey explained that the verse described "how I felt when I couldn't afford clothes and used to dress in rags but I didn't really feel mentally impoverished".
In the song's lyrics, Morrissey referenced works by playwright Shelagh Delaney
Shelagh Delaney
Shelagh Delaney, FRSL was an English dramatist and screenwriter, best-known for her debut work, A Taste of Honey ....
, whom he would reference in several later songs. The song's line "I'll probably never see you again" appears in Delaney's A Taste of Honey
A Taste of Honey
A Taste of Honey is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 18. It was initially intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalize British theatre and to address social issues that she felt were not being presented...
and The Lion in Love. Morrissey paraphrased the line "Everything depends upon how near you stand next to me" from the 1974 Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
song "Take This Longing". Goddard conjectures that the song's title was inspired by the 1947 detective novel Hand in Glove
Hand in Glove (novel)
Hand in Glove is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-second novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1962. This story finds its way into an upper society party gone astray into the path of precarious murder....
by Ngaio Marsh
Ngaio Marsh
Dame Ngaio Marsh DBE , born Edith Ngaio Marsh, was a New Zealand crime writer and theatre director. There is some uncertainty over her birth date as her father neglected to register her birth until 1900...
.
Release and reception
"Hand in Glove" was released as The Smiths' debut recording in May 1983. The single sold consistently for the next 18 months. Although the single failed to reach the UK Singles ChartUK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, it reached number three on the UK Indie Chart
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
. Its relative success earned the group a listing in the Guinness Book of Records in January 1984 when it and the group's next two singles' "This Charming Man
This Charming Man
"This Charming Man" is a song by the English band The Smiths, written by guitarist Johnny Marr and singer/lyricist Morrissey. It was released as the group's second single in October 1983 on the independent record label Rough Trade...
" and "What Difference Does It Make?
What Difference Does It Make?
"What Difference Does It Make?" is a 1984 single by British band The Smiths. The single version can be found on the band's self-titled debut album The Smiths...
"' held the top three position on the UK Indie Chart. "It should have been a massive hit", Morrissey later said, "it was so urgent. To me, it was a complete cry in every direction. It really was a landmark." The single did raise the band's profile; a week after its release the band gained its first major live reviews in the music press, which in turn led to their first radio session with BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
disc jockey John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
.
While reviewing a 1983 concert by The Smiths and The Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens were an indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Australia in 1977 by singer-songwriters and guitarists, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. They were later joined by Lindy Morrison on drums, Robert Vickers on bass guitar and Amanda Brown on violin, oboe, guitar, and backing vocals,...
at The Venue in London, Barney Hoskyns
Barney Hoskyns
Barney Hoskyns is a British music critic and editor of the online music journalism archive Rock's Backpages.Hoskyns graduated from Oxford with a First Class degree in English. He began writing about music for Melody Maker and New Musical Express, quitting his job as staff writer at NME to research...
, writing for the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, described "Hand in Glove" as "one of the year's few masterpieces, a thing of beauty and a joy forever". In the 1984 edition of The Rock Yearbook, Hoskyns said the song "swept into my heart". Bill Black, writing for Sounds
Sounds (magazine)
Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...
, described it as a "daunting" debut. Writing for Allmusic, Ned Raggett calls the song a "stunning, surprising debut" and describes the music as "sparkling" stating that it relied on Marr's "careful overdubbing of acoustic and electric guitars". Raggett went on to describe Rourke's bass and Joyce's drumming as "spare but effective", and claimed that Joyce "especially shone".
Packaging
Morrissey had specific instructions on how he wanted the "Hand in Glove" single to be packaged. He told Rough Trade's art department that the single should have a paper label centre with four vents encircling the middle, in homage to singles from the 1960s. The cover to the single features a photograph of a naked man with his back to the camera by Jim FrenchJim French (photographer)
Jim French is an American photographer who under the pseudonym Rip Colt created Colt Studio to publish, what were to become, his iconic homoerotic images in the books, magazines and calendars that presented French's work exclusively and set a new standard for idealized masculinity in...
, taken from Margaret Walters' history The Nude Male. The sleeve's homoerotic undertones elicited the reaction Morrissey was hoping for of unease and outrage. Rourke noted when he showed the recording to his parents his father was "mortified. He said to me, 'that's a bloke's bum' and I said, 'yeah' but when he asked me why I just didn't have an answer for him'".
Track listing
Both songs written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr.- "Hand in Glove" – 3:16
- "Handsome Devil" (live, Manchester Hacienda, 4/2/83) – 2:53
Sandie Shaw collaboration
Despite having established themselves as a group, Morrissey and Marr still harboured ambitions that they would be recognised as songwriters by having their songs covered by others. Their top choice was singer Sandie Shaw, who had scored several hits throughout the 1960s and was one of the most prominent British vocalists of her era. In the summer of 1983, Marr and Morrissey began asking Shaw to cover their song "I Don't Owe You Anything", which they had conceived with her in mind to perform. The pair sent Shaw various letters coupled with song demos. Shaw was sceptical at first; she was discouraged by the negative media attention that accompanied the Smiths song "Reel Around the Fountain", and when she received a copy of "Hand in Glove" in the mail, she reportedly exclaimed to her husband "he's started sending me pictures of naked men with their bums showing!"Shaw was eventually won over by the intervention of Geoff Travis and by Morrissey's praise of her in the press. In January 1984, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
announced that Shaw and The Smiths would release a collaborative recording of "I Don't Owe You Anything" as a single on Rough Trade. In February, Shaw and The Smiths journeyed to Matrix Studios in London, where Shaw recorded three Smiths songs with Marr, Joyce and Rourke. The version of "Hand in Glove" recorded at Matrix was performed in the key of D minor, while Marr placed the intro riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
's accent on a major scale and Shaw altered some lyrics. Shaw ended up selecting their recording of "Hand in Glove" as the single's a-side, placing "I Don't Owe You Anything" as the b-side.
Released as a single in April 1984 solely under Shaw's name, the recording became Shaw's first hit in a decade when it reached number 27 on the UK Singles Chart. Marr, Rourke and Joyce backed Shaw on two mimed television performances of the song, first on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's Earsay in March 1984, and then on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
on 26 April, where the band appeared barefoot in homage to the singer, who did so often in the 1960s.
Track listing
- "Hand in Glove" – 2:58
- "I Don't Owe You Anything" – 4:06
- 12"
- "Hand in Glove" – 2:58
- "I Don't Owe You Anything" – 4:06
- "Jeane" – 2:52