Hand
In Glove
"...the most important record
in the world..." - Morrissey
"...tinny, messily produced crap..." - British Music Critic

Hand In Glove
Handsome Devil
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Yea-Sayers: "Uh-oh,
love comes to town. The debut affair of the year, and no mistake." "'Hand
in glove/the sun shines out of our behinds...' Boom! The Smiths
can't wait... in the very first line of their debut they spell
it out, announcing their indestructable self-belief and irresistible
intent with an audacity unheard since 'I am an An-ar-chist'
howled outta the opening rumble of 'Anarchy...'" "The
pivotal line of 'Hand In Glove' is 'The sun shines out of our behinds.'
That, plus a picture sleeve of a male derriere, is a heck of a way to
lead off a debut 45. Further, Sounds and the British daily
The Sun decided that 'Handsome Devil' is about molesting young
boys - a claim not borne out by lines like 'let me put my hand on your
mammary gland'. Both sides, though, are punchy numbers of great promise." "The
Smiths ride up 'Hand In Glove' to knock me from my own gallows. With
a paucity of effects they seem to piece the cool of a Julian Cope/Teardrops
sensitivity with a certain vigour that only us young ones can adopt.
Morrissey's voice invocations just rise above the fuzz of treble. Truly
a new Bunnyman." Nay-Sayers: "Aha,
Dave McCullough's fave rave of the moment. And yes, it's tinny messily
produced crap. Oh dear..." Smiths-Speak: "The
only tragedy for The Smiths has been that 'Hand In Glove' didn't gain
the attention it deserved. I won't rest until that song is in the heart
of everything. It's been given another lifespan because it's been re-recorded
for the L.P. But it should have been a massive hit. It was so URGENT
- to me, it was a complete cry in every direction. It really was a landmark.
There is every grain of emotion that has to be injected into all the
songs and it worked perfectly with 'Hand In Glove'. It was as if these
four people had to play that song - it was so essential. Those
words had to be sung." "The
favourite lyric I have written appears in a song called 'Hand In Glove'.
The lines which are most precious to me are: 'The good people laugh/Yes
we may be hidden by rags/But we have something they'll never have'.
Which is how I felt when I couldn't afford to buy clothes and used to
dress in rags but I didn't really feel mentally impoverished. "The
original 'Hand In Glove' was financed by The Smiths... representative...
Joe Moss, and took a day in - where else - Strawberry Studios... one
day in Stockport to enliven history. I re-did the vocal a week later,
if only to make a point of starting as stroppily as I intended to continue.
The next day we took the train to London, to Rough Trade at the old
Blenheim Crescent place. We waited for hours to then be told that Geoff
(Travis) couldn't see us, so Johnny said, "Who is Geoff Travis?"
and someone pointed to a looming figure swarming down a corridor and
Johnny raced after him and forced him to listen. Two hours later the
record was cut." "When
we did 'Hand In Glove', that was brilliant because it was a fantastic
piece of vinyl." "'Hand
In Glove' was done for f250, because the other side was 'Handsome Devil,'
which was live from the Hacienda, straight off the desk. Off, by the
way, what was only the third gig we'd played." "...the
message of the song is to forget the cultivation of the brain and to
concentrate on the cultivation of the body. 'A boy in the bush...' is
addressed to a scholar. 'There's more to life than books you know, but
not much more' - that is the essence of the song. So you can just take
it and stick it in an article about child-molesting and it will make
absolutely perfect sense. But you can do that with anybody. You can
do it with Abba." "Like
Morrissey, I feel that my life was leading up to 'Hand In Glove,' and
from then on things began to happen. My life began. That record set
the standard. When Johnny played me their first demo tape, I thought
it was the best thing I'd ever heard, both musically and lyrically.
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and too good to miss, so I leapt
at it as quickly as possible." "I
remember Johnny glowing with pride saying 'This is it! Just listen to
this.' I was helplessly won over." "'Handsome
Devil': It took a week or two to get my head round it. I knew I wanted
to do it, but it took a while to get used to, with him singing those
sort of lyrics."
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