China in Your Hand

"China in Your Hand" is a song by the English rock group 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 one in the UK, although their debut single "Heart and Soul" was a much bigger hit in the United States. "China in Your Hand" was the 600th single to top the UK charts and kept George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set on You" from hitting the top spot. The song also peaked at number 1 in Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 11th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV,[1] and in 2017 was chosen by The Daily Telegraph as one of the 21 best power ballads.[2]

"China in Your Hand"
Single by T'Pau
from the album Bridge of Spies
B-side"No Sense of Pride"
ReleasedOctober 1987 (1987-10)
GenrePop
Length4:07
LabelSiren, Virgin
Songwriter(s)Carol Decker, Ron Rogers
Producer(s)Ron Rogers, Tim Burgess (single version)
Roy Thomas Baker (12"/album version)
T'Pau singles chronology
"Heart and Soul"
(1987)		 "China in Your Hand"
(1987)		 "Bridge of Spies"
(1988)

Background

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 its source material. 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.[3] In a segment on the BBC1's The One Show on 6 March 2014, Carol Decker explained that she had been holding a china tea cup belonging to Ronnie Rogers' mother in her hand while washing up and had felt a lump in the bottom. She held the cup to the light and saw an image of a young woman in the base of the cup. Decker had the cup with her and showed the viewers the image.

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 midway between B-Flat and B Major.

Other versions

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", in mockery of Decker, who reacted to the comment via Twitter.[4]

Track listing

7" vinyl
Side one

  1. "China in Your Hand" (Carol Decker, Ron Rogers) – 4:07 (Sax solo by Gary Barnacle: guitarist Dean Howard)

Side two

  1. "No Sense of Pride" (T'Pau) – 3:25

12" vinyl
Side one

  1. "China in Your Hand" (Full Length Album Version) (5:06)

Side two

  1. "China in Your Hand" (Single Version) – 4:07
  2. "No Sense of Pride" – 3:25

Chart performance
Chart (1987/1988) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] 53
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[6] 5
Belgium (Ultratop) 1
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[7] 20
Denmark (IFPI)[8] 7
France (SNEP)[9] 44
West Germany (Media Control Charts)[10] 2
Iceland (Íslenski listinn)[11] 1
Ireland (IRMA)[12] 1
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[13] 1
New Zealand (RIANZ)[14] 8
Norway (VG-lista)[15] 1
Poland (ZPAV) 8
South Africa (South African Singles Chart)[16] 12
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[17] 5
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[18] 1
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[19] 1

See also

References
  1. Westbrook, Caroline (25 July 2015). "The Nation's Favourite 80s Number One: 12 more classic 80s chart-toppers which didn't make the cut". Metro. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  2. "The 21 best power ballads". The Daily Telegraph.
  3. Top 10 of 1987, Channel 4 documentary
  4. "T'Pau's Carol Decker calls Gary Barlow a t**t over 'X Factor' comments – X Factor News – TV – Digital Spy". Digitalspy.ie. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St. Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 312. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid 1983 and 19 June 1988.
  6. Steffen Hung. "Austria Top 40 – Hitparade Österreich". austriancharts.at. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  7. "Welcome to the Library and Archives Canada website". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  8. Danish Singles Chart 22 January 1988
  9. Steffen Hung. "Les charts français". lescharts.com. Archived from the original on 1 April 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  10. "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche". musicline.de. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  11. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 10 (15. janúar 1988)" (PDF) (in Icelandic). Dagblaðið Vísir. Retrieved 26 July 2018. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  12. Jaclyn Ward (1 October 1962). "The Irish Charts – All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  13. "Dutchcharts.nl – T'Pau – China in Your Hand" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 2017-12-31.
  14. Steffen Hung (24 March 2014). "New Zealand charts portal". charts.nz. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  15. Steffen Hung (15 June 2006). "Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  16. Brian Currin & Stephen Segerman. "The South African Rock Encyclopedia". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 5 January 2012.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. Steffen Hung (30 December 2011). "Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  18. Steffen Hung. "Die Offizielle Schweizer Hitparade und Music Community". swisscharts.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  19. "UK Singles & Albums Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
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