Following the hushed turbulence of What’s Going On?, it’s perhaps a relief to turn to a
straightforward, uplifting religious song, one which you probably sang at
school (I certainly did), even though it was never a hit in the UK. Written by
Gene MacLellan, who was born in Quebec, grew up in Toronto and eventually moved
to Prince Edward Island, “Put Your Hand” was first recorded by the former gym
teacher from Nova Scotia, Anne Murray, on her debut album (Murray’s first
international hit “Snowbird” was also a MacLellan song).
But it was the Toronto-based group Ocean who made the song a
hit single. Possibly their most significant member was bassist/singer Jeff
Jones, who was a founder member of Rush before making way for Geddy Lee, and
who later went on to work with Tom Cochrane in Red Rider. Janice Morgan (later Janice Penfield) sang
lead, however, and the band give the song a finely noble reading; there is
something about the wearied patience of their performance that puts me in mind
of The Band – which is hardly surprising, since back in the fifties MacLellan had
worked with a very young Robbie Robertson in The Consuls and The Suedes; on
their similarly titled debut album, Ocean do a very decent cover of Robertson’s
“The Stones That I Throw,” a song dating back to the days of Levon and The
Hawks. Alas, MacLellan’s fate was not so different from that of Richard Manuel;
he lost his father in a car crash in 1963 in which he himself sustained
lifelong scarring of the left side of his face. Prone to periods of severe
depression, he took his own life in January 1995; it is a shame that the faith expressed
in his best-known song didn’t work out for him in the end.
Date Record Made
Number Two: 1 May 1971
Number Of Weeks At
Number Two: 1
Record At Number One: “Joy
To The World” by Three Dog Night
UK Chart Position: None
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