"Put Your Hand in the Hand" is a Gospel

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 song composed by Gene MacLellan

Gene MacLellan

Gene MacLellan was a Canadian singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island.Among his notable compositions were "Snowbird", made famous by Anne Murray, "Put Your Hand in the Hand, "The Call", "Pages of Time" and "Thorn in My Shoe"...

 and first recorded by Canadian singer Anne Murray

Anne Murray

Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....

 from her third studio album Honey, Wheat and Laughter

Honey, Wheat and Laughter

Honey, Wheat and Laughter is the third studio album by Anne Murray issued in 1970 on Capitol Records. The album was only released in Canada...

.

The song was later covered by Canadian band Ocean

Ocean (band)

Ocean was a gospel rock band formed in 1970 in Toronto, Ontario, Ontario, Canada. They are best known for their million-selling 1971 single "Put Your Hand in the Hand", penned by Gene MacLellan. The gramophone record sold over one million copies and received a gold disc awarded by the Recording...

 and released as the title track to their debut album. Their version of the track is arguably the most popular version of the track, peaking at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, and went on to become 22nd best-seller of 1971.

Track listing

7" single

A1 "Put Your Hand in the Hand" - 2:52

A2 "Tear Down the Fences" - 2:53

Cover versions

The song was also covered in the 1970s by a number of other performers, including the original version Anne Murray

Anne Murray

Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....

 (who previously had a hit with another MacLellan song, "Snowbird

Snowbird

Snowbird may refer to:*"Snowbird" , recorded by Anne Murray in 1970*Snowbird , people from Canada and the northern United States who spend winter in warmer climates of the southern United States*Snowbird , a Marvel Comics character...

"), Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 (who also covered MacLellan's "Snowbird"), Randy Stonehill

Randy Stonehill

Randall Evan "Randy" Stonehill is an American singer-songwriter from Stockton, California, best known as one of the so-called "fathers of contemporary Christian music". His music is primarily folk rock in the style of James Taylor, but he has assayed other styles, with various albums focused on...

, Frankie Laine

Frankie Laine

Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...

, Donny Hathaway

Donny Hathaway

Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."His collaborations...

, Joan Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

 and a German language version ("Ich fand eine Hand") by Cindy and Bert. Evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong

Garner Ted Armstrong

Garner Ted Armstrong was an American evangelist and the son of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God, at the time a Sabbatarian organization that taught strict observance of seventh-day Sabbath, holy days typically associated with the Jewish faith, and other observances...

 covered the song in a January 1976 episode of Hee Haw

Hee Haw

Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...

. Country singers Lynn Anderson

Lynn Anderson

Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...

 and Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

 also recorded the song.

The song's main title was used for the dance group Divine Inspiration

Divine Inspiration

Divine Inspiration is a British music group that formed in 2002. The group consists of singer Sarah-Jane Scott, DJ Paul Crawley, David Lewin and Lee Robinson. They have had two singles that charted in the United Kingdom. Their first release, "The Way " peaked at number five in the UK Singles Chart...

's 2003 hit, "The Way (Put Your Hand in My Hand)", which peaked at #5 on the UK singles chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

After MacLellan's suicide in 1995, his friend and fellow Atlantic Canadian musician Ron Hynes

Ron Hynes

Ron Hynes is a popular folk singer-songwriter from Newfoundland. He is especially known for his composition "Sonny's Dream," which has been recorded worldwide by many artists and was named the 41st greatest Canadian song of all time on the 2005 CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian...

 wrote the song "Godspeed" as a tribute, the lyrics for which reference the title of this song.

Use in sampling

Today, the song is sought out for its opening breakbeat

Breakbeat

In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...

 of open drums, which has been used by many DJs for hip hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

 songs, including the Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

.