B-side "Tear Down the Fences" Recorded 1970 Label Kama Sutra | Released March 1971 Genre Pop, gospel | |
Length 2:52 – Single Edit
3:53 – Album Cut | ||
"Put Your Hand in the Hand" is a gospel pop song composed by Gene MacLellan and first recorded by Canadian singer Anne Murray from her third studio album Honey, Wheat and Laughter.
Contents
It became a hit single for the Canadian band Ocean, released as the title track to their debut album. The single peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and went on to become 22nd best-seller of 1971. The single version omitted the instrumental, that occurs between the second chorus and the second verse, as well as the repeat of the chorus and the final instrumentalist chorus, that ends without the fade. The song was used in the 2013 film Prisoners.
Track listing
7" single
A1 "Put Your Hand in the Hand" – 2:52
A2 "Tear Down the Fences" – 2:53
Cover versions
The song was also covered in the 1970s by a number of other performers, including Elvis Presley (who also covered MacLellan's "Snowbird"), Randy Stonehill, Frankie Laine, Donny Hathaway, Joan Baez, Dutch group Himalaya, the Les Humphries Singers and a German-language version ("Ich fand eine Hand") by Cindy & Bert.
Bing Crosby recorded the song for his 1972 album Bing 'n' Basie.
Evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong covered the song in a January 1976 episode of Hee Haw. Country singers Sandy Posey, Lynn Anderson and Loretta Lynn, and The Oak Ridge Boys also recorded the song.
South African singer Ray Dylan recorded a cover on his album Goeie Ou Country - Op Aanvraag.
In a 1991 episode of the sitcom Family Matters titled "Choir Trouble", the cast was singing the song in their church as part of their Gospel Fest.
After MacLellan's suicide in 1995, his friend and fellow Atlantic Canadian musician Ron Hynes wrote the song "Godspeed" as a tribute, the lyrics for which reference the title of this song.