Hand in My Pocket
Encyclopedia
"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. 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 accompaning 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.
, 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.
, 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.
, 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
). It didn't manage to chart worldwide as the original.
features Morissette among a homecoming
parade
and was filmed in black-and-white
and slow motion
. It was directed by Mark Kohr.
, but Morissette decided not to have it used as the theme after the show was picked up.
CD Single
Australian/European CD Single
2005 CD Single
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".
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...
, for her third studio album Jagged Little Pill
Jagged Little Pill
Jagged Little Pill is the third studio album by Canadian recording artist and songwriter Alanis Morissette. It was Morissette's first internationally released album, and her first studio album after the three year hiatus following her break with MCA Records. The album marked a shift from her style...
(1995). The song was written by Morissette and Glen Ballard
Glen Ballard
Glen Ballard is an American songwriter and record producer, best known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill , which won Grammy Award for "Best Rock Album", and "Album of the Year" amongst others, and is ranked by the Rolling Stone amongst The 500 Greatest Albums of...
, and was released as the second single from the album. "Hand in My Pocket" is a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
song. 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
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
chart. The song also went in the top ten in New Zealand and the U.S. An accompaning music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
was released for the single, featuring Morissette at a festival, driving her car in black and white form. That received positive reviews as well.
Background and musicial structure
"Hand In my Pocket" was written by Morissette and Glen BallardGlen Ballard
Glen Ballard is an American songwriter and record producer, best known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill , which won Grammy Award for "Best Rock Album", and "Album of the Year" amongst others, and is ranked by the Rolling Stone amongst The 500 Greatest Albums of...
, and was released on October 31, 1995 as the second single from Morissette's third album Jagged Little Pill
Jagged Little Pill
Jagged Little Pill is the third studio album by Canadian recording artist and songwriter Alanis Morissette. It was Morissette's first internationally released album, and her first studio album after the three year hiatus following her break with MCA Records. The album marked a shift from her style...
(1995). The song is a mainstream rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
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.
Critical reception
Allmusic had highlighted the song as a album highlight. 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."Chart performance
"Hand in My Pocket" had peaked at number one in her native CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, 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
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and peaked at number thirteen, staying there for two consecutive weeks. The song debuted at number thirty-nine in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the only country in the top ten outside of America, and peaked at number seven. The song had moderate success in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, debuting at number fifty-six in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and only managed to peak at number forty-five on the charts. It also peaked at number thirty-nine in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, only staying there for five weeks and number eighty-six in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
for five weeks.
Re-release
In 2005, Morissette released Jagged Little Pill AcousticJagged Little Pill Acoustic
-Credits:*All lyrics written by Alanis Morissette*Music written by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard*Produced by Glen Ballard*Mixed and Recorded by Bill Malina*Alanis Morissette: Vocals, Harmonica*David Levita: Guitars, Marxophone, Perapaloshka, Mandolin...
, an acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
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
2005 in music
-Events:*During the year 2005, 12 rock music albums scored number 1 in the USA. This was the first time even ten albums have scored number 1 since 1996.-January:...
). It didn't manage to chart worldwide as the original.
Music video
The single's videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
features Morissette among a homecoming
Homecoming
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni of a school. It most commonly refers to a tradition in many universities, colleges and high schools in North America...
parade
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
and was filmed in black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
and slow motion
Slow motion
Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger....
. It was directed by Mark Kohr.
Popular culture
"Hand in My Pocket" served as the theme song in the unaired pilot episode of the television show Dawson's CreekDawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
, but Morissette decided not to have it used as the theme after the show was picked up.
Track listing
Promo CD Single- "Hand in My Pocket"
CD Single
- "Hand in My Pocket"
- "Right Through You" (Live Acoustic)
- "Forgivin" (Live Acoustic)
Australian/European CD Single
- "Hand in My Pocket"
- "Head Over Feet" (Live Acoustic)
- "Not the Doctor" (Live Acoustic)
2005 CD Single
- "Hand in My Pocket" (Jagged Little Pill Acoustic version)
Covers and parodies
The song was covered by Rolf HarrisRolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
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
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
under the title 'Evil Scotsman'. The song has also been parodied by Amateur Transplants
Amateur Transplants
Amateur Transplants are a London based, British parody musical duo consisting of medical professionals, Dr. Adam Kay and Dr. Suman Biswas , who came to prominence in 2005 with a song about the London Underground, parodying the Jam song "Going Underground"...
on the album Fitness to Practice
Fitness to Practice
Fitness to Practice is a 2004 album produced for charity by Amateur Transplants . 10% of the profits from the album sales go to Macmillan Cancer Relief....
as part of the song "Snippets". It was also covered by alt-country band The Cowlicks on their album Psychedelic Service Station. American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
contestant Crystal Bowersox
Crystal Bowersox
Crystal Lynn Bowersox is an American singer-songwriter and actress, who was the runner-up on the ninth season of American Idol...
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".
Charts
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada (RPM RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... ) |
1 |