Hand on Your Heart

"Hand on Your Heart" is a song performed by Australian recording artist and songwriter Kylie Minogue from her second studio album Enjoy Yourself (1989). Again from her previous releases up to "Let's Get to It", the song was produced and written by Stock, Aitken & Waterman. The song was recorded in London, England, through the sessions of the album. The song was released as the album's lead single from Enjoy Yourself on 24 April 1989. "Hand on Your Heart" received positive reviews from most music critics, who deemed it a highlight from the album and praised it as a strong single.

"Hand on Your Heart"
Single by Kylie Minogue
from the album Enjoy Yourself
B-side"Just Wanna Love You"
Released24 April 1989
RecordedFebruary 1989 in London, England
GenreDance-pop
Length3:51
LabelPWL
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Stock Aitken Waterman
Kylie Minogue singles chronology
"Turn It into Love"
(1988)		 "Hand on Your Heart"
(1989)		 "Wouldn't Change a Thing"
(1989)
Music video
"Hand on Your Heart" on YouTube

"Hand on Your Heart" peaked at number four in her native Australian charts, became Minogue's third number one in the UK Singles Chart,[1] and made top ten in France, Switzerland, Finland and Japan.

The song was also performed on some concert tours performed by Minogue, including it on her Enjoy Yourself Tour, Rhythm of Love Tour and was featured on her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour and the Homecoming Tour "Hand on Your Heart" was known as one of Minogue's most well-known singles to date. The song was available as limited editions 7" and 12" posterbags featuring different artwork to the UK release in Australia. In 2006, Swedish singer-songwriter José González released an acoustic cover version of "Hand on Your Heart" as a single. His version peaked at number twenty-nine in the UK.

Composition

The song centers around themes of honesty and communication in a relationship. The song is sung in the viewpoint of a girl whose boyfriend is trying to break up with her yet she does not believe their relationship is over; she insists that he puts his hand on his heart and tells her until he really means it.

Minogue re-recorded the song for her 2012 album The Abbey Road Sessions, reworking the song to feature brushed drums and gentle piano which magnify the heartbreak and make the lyrics such as “Oh, I wanna hear you tell me / You don’t want my love” sound pleading, not defiant.[2]

Reception

Critical response
Minogue performing the song during her Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour (2006).

"Hand on Your Heart" received favorable reviews from most music critics. Chris True from Allmusic highlighted the song as an album standout.[3] Digital Spy gave it a favorable review, highlighting it by saying "Put it this way... this piece is a wee bit late because it's hard to type while re-enacting the 'Hand On Your Heart' dance routine."[4]

The Abbey Road Sessions version received extremely rave reviews from contemporary music commentators. Tim Sendra from Allmusic said that "Stripping the songs down to their basics and then adding strings on top proves to be very effective, especially on “All the Lovers” or “Hand on Your Heart,” and most of the new arrangements are imaginative and sometime inspired."[5] Nick Levine from BBC Music was very positive towards the reworked version of the song, writing that "Who knew Stock Aitken Waterman tunes like [Never Too Late] and [Hand On Your Heart] had such melancholy lurking under the production chintz?"[6] Andy GIll wrote that "Hand On Your Heart", re-worked with a delicate, cyclical guitar figure augmented by a few telling piano chords, laid over a quietly shuffling snare whose gently scudding momentum allows the melody to glow at the heart of the song."[7]

Chart performance

On 24 April 1989, "Hand on Your Heart" was released in the United Kingdom. The song became Minogue's third song to debut at number two on the UK Singles Chart, before it peaked at number one the following week. On its third week it was replaced on the top of the chart by the UK Hillsborough disaster charity single "Ferry Cross the Mersey" by The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden and Stock, Aitken and Waterman.[1] "Hand on Your Heart" also topped the UK Dance and Indie charts.

The song was one of the first singles to sell well on cassette, selling 11,000 copies in the first week of release. This would have been enough to have Minogue enter in at number one, something no female had ever done at the time. However, PWL issued the cassette single at a cut price of £1.99, which was cheaper than chart regulations at the time allowed. This meant The Bangles stayed at number one with "Eternal Flame", with around 1,600 more sales. Because of this the rules were quickly changed so that cut-price cassette singles were allowed. The market for cassette singles stood at 0.5% at the time and the BPI hoped to encourage growth of the cassette single.[8]

Outside of the UK, the song was also successful. It reached number 4 in Australia and became Minogue's fifth top 5 single on the singles chart. In reached the top 10 in Denmark, Finland, France, Japan, and South Africa, and the top 20 in Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden.

Music video

"Hand on Your Heart" featured a colourful music video that was directed by Chris Langman and filmed at Minogue's hometown in Melbourne, Australia in March 1989. The video features Minogue dancing in a modern house. She appears wearing a dress with a big heart on it that changes colour between vibrant colours of red, blue and yellow, Minogue travels from room to room, dancing playfully for the camera. A live version of the video was also released and featured Minogue performing a special "live remix" in Japan, both versions featured in Kylie's Greatest Hits 87-97 DVD.

An alternate version of the "Hand on Your Heart" video was broadcast on UK TV pre-release, but has never been screened again. On this version Minogue's shoes spin on camera and introduce all three of her new outfits of matching colours. Only one "shoe spin" remains on the final version. Released to music video channels prior to the single's commercial release, the video was a hit, gaining significant airplay on music video channels. The video was released commercially on the Ultimate Kylie companion DVD, released in December 2004.

Live performances
The performance of "Hand on Your Heart" during the "Dollhouse Medley" of Minogue's 2014 Kiss Me Once Tour.

The first tour that "Hand on Your Heart" was performed on was the Disco in Dream/The Hitman Roadshow, as the original recording. It was then performed on the Enjoy Yourself Tour, which was launched to promote Enjoy Yourself, the album from which the song is lifted. It began with an a cappella chorus intro before the original was performed. It was then performed the following year on the Rhythm of Love Tour as the original again. It was performed on the Let's Get to It Tour the year after as the normal version again. The song was then not performed until Minogue's 2000 tour: On a Night Like This Tour as the third song in the set. This version was not similar to the original and had a different sound. It was then performed on Minogue's Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour in 2005 where it opened the sixth act: "Kylesque". It had a similar sound to the original but had different bass lines. This tour was cancelled due to Minogue's diagnosis of breast cancer. The tour was resumed under the name Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour. "Hand on Your Heart" was also in this set list in the sixth act "Pop Paradiso", but closed this act. This was a new remix featuring a thicker bass line. More recently, the song was performed on Minogue's Kiss Me Once Tour to promote her twelfth studio album Kiss Me Once. It opened the "Dollhouse Medley" which featured 4 PWL hits: "Hand on Your Heart", "Never Too Late", "Got to Be Certain" and "I Should Be So Lucky".

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Hand on Your Heart".

Charts and certifications

References
  1. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 501. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. "Kylie Minogue: The Abbey Road Sessions". 6 November 2012.
  3. "Enjoy Yourself - Kylie Minogue". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  4. "Kylie: Revisited #2: 'Enjoy Yourself' - Music The Sound". Digital Spy. 8 May 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  5. "The Abbey Road Sessions - Kylie Minogue - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  6. BBC Review.
  7. "Album: Kylie,The Abbey Road Sessions (Parlophone)". 27 October 2012.
  8. http://scans.chartarchive.org/UK/1989/UK%20Charts%201989.05.06.pdf
  9. "Australian-charts.com – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  10. "Ultratop.be – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  11. Danish Singles Chart 26 May 1989
  12. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles". Music & Media. 6 (22). 3 June 1989. pp. 20–21. OCLC 29800226.
  13. "Kylie Minogue: Hand on Your Heart" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  14. "Lescharts.com – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  15. Okamoto, Satoshi (2006). Oricon Single Chart Book: Complete Edition 1968–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. ISBN 4-87131-076-0.
  16. "Offiziellecharts.de – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  17. "Top 3 Singles in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. 8 July 1989. p. 15. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  18. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Hand on Your Heart". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  19. "Dutchcharts.nl – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  20. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 25, 1989" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  21. "Charts.nz – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  22. "Norwegiancharts.com – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart". VG-lista. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  23. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  24. "Swedishcharts.com – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart". Singles Top 100. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  25. "Swisscharts.com – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  26. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  27. "ARIA End of Year Singles 1989". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  28. "Eurochart Hot 100 1989" (PDF). Music & Media. 6 (51): 6. 23 December 1989. OCLC 29800226. Retrieved 17 January 2020 – via American Radio History.
  29. "Offizielle Deutsche Charts: Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment Charts. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  30. "Year-End Charts '89 – Top 100 Singles". Music Week. London, England: Spotlight Publications. 3 March 1990. p. 16.
  31. "British single certifications – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 10 January 2015. Select singles in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Hand on Your Heart in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  32. Myers, Justin (25 May 2018). "Kylie Minogue's Official Top 40 biggest selling songs". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 6 April 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  33. "Japanese single certifications – Kylie Minogue – Hand on Your Heart" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
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