The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (song)
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| “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by The Smiths | |||||
| Album | The Smiths | ||||
| Released | 1983 | ||||
| Genre | Indie rock | ||||
| Length | 4:38 | ||||
| Label | Rough Trade Records | ||||
| Producer | John Porter | ||||
| The Smiths track listing | |||||
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"The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" is a song by British rock group The Smiths. It was recorded in 1983 and included on their debut album, The Smiths (1984).
The song borrowed its title from the oft-quoted poem, "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" by William Ross Wallace, changing it into "As long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine". The song was controversial, and some music journalists were led to speculate upon paedophilic content — a charge flatly denied.
Textually, the song, in simple verse form, sounds like a poem set to music. Musically, the song is indebted to the Patti Smith's song "Kimberly" from album Horses (see the song's section in Simon Goddard, The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life).
An early live recording from 1983 originally had the character of an upbeat black comedy.[citation needed] The version on The Smiths' first album was made somber and melancholic, which tended to suppress the outrageous character of its lyrics.[citation needed]
As in many Smiths songs some of the lyrics of "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" are borrowed from elsewhere. The lines "Rattle my bones all over the stones, I'm only a beggar that nobody owns" are an echo of the poem "The Pauper's Drive" (1841) by Thomas Noel, which includes the lines "Rattle his bones, over the stones, he's only a pauper whom nobody owns." An alternative inspiration mahave been James Joyce who, in 1922, wrote in "Ulysses", "The carriage climbed more slowly the hill of Rutland square. Rattle his bones. Over the stones. Only a pauper. Nobody owns."
The song also takes two lines from the Al Jolson song "Sunny Boy" ("Climb up on my knee, sonny boy; Although you're only three, sonny boy") in its final verse.
