| "Hand in My Pocket" | ||||||||
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| Single by Alanis Morissette | ||||||||
| from the album Jagged Little Pill | ||||||||
| Released | October 31, 1995 | |||||||
| Format | CD single, cassette single, 12" single | |||||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||||||
| Length | 3:41 | |||||||
| Label | Maverick, Feedback Records[1] | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard | |||||||
| Producer | Glen Ballard | |||||||
| Alanis Morissette singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Hand in my Pocket" is a song by Canadian recording artist and songwriter Alanis Morissette, for her third studio album Jagged Little Pill (1995). The song was written by Morissette and Glen Ballard, and was released as the second single from the album. "Hand in My Pocket" is a rock song.[2] The song was released on October 31, 1995, nearly five months after the album release. "Hand in My Pocket" received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who applauded Morissette's songwriting. "Hand in My Pocket" also received substantial success through radio airplay in the U.S. The song became Morissette's second number-one hit on Billboard's U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song also went in the top ten in New Zealand and the U.S. An accompanying music video was released for the single, featuring Morissette at a festival, driving her car in black and white form. That received positive reviews as well.
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"Hand In my Pocket" was written by Morissette and Glen Ballard, and was released on October 31, 1995 as the second single from Morissette's third album Jagged Little Pill (1995). The song is a mainstream rock song. The chorus of "Hand in My Pocket" utilized a poetry technique, "rhyme juxtaposition", as its primary lyrical structure, as exemplified by the off-set coupling of the first and second stanzas of each chorus. In the first chorus for example, "fine, fine, fine" is coupled with "a high five", when it should, according to traditional rhyming schemes, be instead set against the "a peace sign" which closes the third chorus, and which is in turn, coupled with a first line ending with the phrase, "a cigarette", which is a clear rhyme with the end of the second chorus: "out just yet". While Morissette does not carry the scheme consistently throughout the song (there are, for instance, no rhymes for "hailing a taxicab" or "playing the piano"), it is, nonetheless, a fairly sophisticated literary device.
Allmusic had highlighted the song as a album highlight.[3] But for a solo review, they had gave the song two-and-a-half stars out of five stars. G-Pop.net had personally said "This is not exactly my favorite track, but if you listen to it enough times, you’ll get the meaning and the lyrics can sometimes be fun to play with."[4]
"Hand in My Pocket" had peaked at number one in her native Canada, becoming Morissette's first number one single. The song also peaked at number one on the U.S. Alternative Songs and number four on the U.S. Pop Songs. The song became successful through North America. The song debuted at number forty-nine in Australia, and peaked at number thirteen, staying there for two consecutive weeks. The song debuted at number thirty-nine in New Zealand, the only country in the top ten outside of America, and peaked at number seven. The song had moderate success in Europe, debuting at number fifty-six in Sweden, and only managed to peak at number forty-five on the charts. It also peaked at number thirty-nine in France, only staying there for five weeks and number eighty-six in the Netherlands for five weeks.
In 2005, Morissette released Jagged Little Pill Acoustic, an acoustic version of Jagged Little Pill. "Hand in My Pocket" was its first U.S. single, and its video premiered in July 2005 (see 2005 in music).[5] It didn't manage to chart worldwide as the original.
The single's video features Morissette among a homecoming parade and was filmed in black-and-white and slow motion. It was directed by Mark Kohr.
"Hand in My Pocket" served as the theme song in the unaired pilot episode of the television show Dawson's Creek, but Morissette decided not to have it used as the theme after the show was picked up.[6]
The song was covered by Rolf Harris on his 1997 album Can You Tell What It Is Yet. It was parodied by ' Rockin Jock' but credit for this parody, 'Trouble', is usually wrongly accredited to Billy Connolly under the title 'Evil Scotsman'. The song has also been parodied by Amateur Transplants on the album Fitness to Practice as part of the song "Snippets". It was also covered by alt-country band The Cowlicks on their album Psychedelic Service Station. American Idol contestant Crystal Bowersox covered the song as a short cut in an early round of her Idol performances. It was also parodied by Bob Rivers under the title "Hand in a Lightsocket".
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[7] | 13 |
| Canada (RPM)[8] | 1 |
| France (SNEP)[9] | 39 |
| Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)[10] | 86 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ)[11] | 7 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[12] | 45 |
| UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[13] | 26 |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[14] | 30 |
| US Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)[15] | 25 |
| US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[16] | 1 |
| US Pop Songs (Billboard)[17] | 4 |
| Preceded by "Name" by Goo Goo Dolls |
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single October 14, 1995 |
Succeeded by "Lump" by The Presidents of the United States of America |
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