Put Your Hand in the Hand

“Put Your Hand in the Hand”  is a gospel pop song composed by Gene MacLellan and first recorded by Canadian singer Anne Murray from her third studio album Honey, Wheat and Laughter.  It became a hit single for the Canadian band Ocean, released as the title track to their debut album.  The single peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and went on to become 22nd best-seller of 1971.  The single version omitted the instrumental, that occurs between the second chorus and the second verse, as well as the repeat of the chorus and the final instrumentalist chorus, that ends without the fade.  The song was used in the 2013 film Prisoners.  (More from Wikipedia)

 

I think of “Put Your Hand in the Hand” as the quintessential early Christian contemporary song.  “Put Your Hand in the Hand” was recorded previously by Anne Murray, who is the first Canadian female solo artist to reach #1 on the U.S. charts; the song appears on her third album, Honey, Wheat and Laughter (1970).  The best known version is by Ocean (also from Canada), who reached #2 on the charts with the song in 1971; others who have recorded the song include Elvis Presley, Joan Baez, Frankie Laine, and Loretta Lynn.  Evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong performed “Put Your Hand in the Hand” on Hee Haw in early 1976.