This week the column has to propose songs about hands by the... hands of the Beatles, Ray Charles, the Interpol and others.1. Keep Your Hands Off My Baby – The Beatles
(Gerry Goffin-Carole King)
A live recording of the Little Eva's hit by the Σκαθάρια, in 1963, from the BBC studio, for the show Saturday Club. You can find it, along with many other treasures, in the double album Live At The BBC in 1994.
2. Losing Hand – Ray Charles
(Charles E. Calhoun)
A song from the debut of the great Ray Charles, entitled after himself, which was released in 1957. Listen to his excellent piano playing.
3. Shake A Hand – Paul McCartney
(Joe Morris)
A driving cover by Macca and his gang (David Gilmour, Ian Paice, Pete Wingfield and the recently lost Mick Green) of a song that Little Richard made famous. From the album Run Devil Run (1999).
4. Back Of My Hand – The Rolling Stones
(Mick Jagger-Keith Richards)
A blues song that sounds like it is written by the early Stones of the ’60s, but in fact comes from their last studio album A Bigger Bang (2005). It was recorded by Jagger, Richards and Charlie Watts, that is the remaining members of the initial group composition.
5. Human Hands – Elvis Costello And The Attractions
(Elvis Costello)
The second song of the second side of the very good Imperial Bedroom (1982), along with the rest ones, demonstrates the maturing of Costello's composing talent and his ability to create excellent pop songs. Here he proved he was more than just a punk and he could stand up to the big names of that time.
6. Slow Hands – Interpol(Paul Banks-Daniel Kessler-Carlos Dengler-Sam Fogarino)
The first single from Antics (2004) is a dance track with the characteristic sound of the New Yorkers. Commercially, it could do better but it is still not bad at all.
7. Careless Hands – The Coral
(James Skelly-Bill Ryder-Jones)
The British from Merseyside play with 60s psychedelia and country, as always with interesting results. Here we have a song from their second album, Magic And Medicine (2003), with a very beautiful melody and instrumentation.
8. Whose Hands Are These – Neil Diamond
(Neil Diamond)
The album Home Before Dark (2008), produced by Rick Rubin, got triumphant reviews and reached up to #1 in America. One of the songs is the one we can listen to here, a ballad with acoustic guitar, piano and delicate stringed instruments. Neil Diamond as we had never heard him.
9. Soft Hand – Willard Grant Conspiracy
(Robert Fisher)
The loop that carries this song from Regard The End in 2003 comprises a not so representative instrumental trick for the American band founded in Boston in 1995. It is probably the lighter moment of that album, with the wind instruments and the vocals enlightening hidden aspects of the dound of this band.
10. The Hands That Built America – U2
(Bono-The Edge-Adam Clayton-Larry Mullen Jr.)
A song about New York, which comprised the music theme of the film Gangs Of New York (2002) by Martin Scorsese. It contains references to the city history, from the immigration of thousands of Irish up until the September 11th attack. Although it was nominated for Best Song Academy Award, it lost by Lose Yourself by Eminem.
* Photos from http://www.bized.co.uk/images/hand_shadow.jpg and www.wikipedia.org.
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