| "China in Your Hand" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by T'Pau | ||||
| from the album Bridge of Spies | ||||
| B-side | "No Sense of Pride" | |||
| Released | October 1987 | |||
| Format | 7", 12" | |||
| Label | Siren, Virgin | |||
| Writer(s) | Carol Decker, Ron Rogers | |||
| Producer | Ron Rogers, Tim Burgess | |||
| T'Pau singles chronology | ||||
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"China in Your Hand" is a song by British band T'Pau, released from their album Bridge of Spies. A re-recorded version was released as a single in October 1987, spending five weeks at number 1 in the UK and is arguably the song for which the group is best known in their native Britain, though their debut single "Heart and Soul" was a much bigger hit in the United States. "China in Your Hand" was the 600th song to top the UK charts, famously stopping George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set on You" from hitting the top spot.
The song's lyrics refer to the novel Frankenstein and its author Mary Shelley. This is more readily heard on the longer album version of the song, as the re-recorded single edit omits most of the more obvious references to the book. The song's title was more unclear however and when quizzed, co-writer Ron Rogers was unsure of to what it referred. Lyric writer Carol Decker explained that it is the effect that if you hold a china cup to a light, you can see your hand through it - therefore 'china in your hand' means something that is transparent.[1]
The song is in the key of B-Flat major on the original album version but the radio edit version is slightly sped up to reduce its length resulting in the tuning being mid-way between B-Flat and B Major.
In 2007 the song was featured in a commercial for PG Tips that starred Johnny Vegas alongside his sidekick, Monkey.
In 2011, contestant Amelia Lily performed the song on series 8 of UK's The X Factor. Judge Gary Barlow said it was "nice to hear the song being sung in tune for once". [2] Decker reacted to this comment on her Twitter account.[3]
Contents |
7" vinyl
Side one
Side two
12" vinyl
Side one
Side two
| Chart (1987/1988) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Singles Chart[4] | 5 |
| Belgian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Canadian Singles Chart[5] | 20 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[6] | 1 |
| French Singles Chart[7] | 44 |
| West German Singles Chart[8] | 2 |
| Irish Singles Chart[9] | 1 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[10] | 8 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart[11] | 1 |
| Polish Singles Chart | 8 |
| South African Singles Chart[12] | 12 |
| Swedish Singles Chart[13] | 5 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[14] | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart[15] | 1 |
| Preceded by "You Win Again" by Bee Gees |
UK number-one single 15 November 1987 - 13 December 1987 |
Succeeded by "Always on My Mind" by Pet Shop Boys |
| Preceded by "Got My Mind Set on You" by George Harrison |
Irish IRMA number-one single 21 November 1987 - 28 November 1987 |
Succeeded by "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson |
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