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Hands Clean

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"Hands Clean"
Single by Alanis Morissette
from the album Under Rug Swept
B-side"Fear of Bliss" "Sister Blister" "Awakening Americans" "Unprodigal Daughter" "Symptoms"
Released24 December 2001 (2001-12-24)
Recorded2001
Length4:31 (album version)
3:50 (radio edit)
LabelMaverick
Songwriter(s)Alanis Morissette
Producer(s)Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette singles chronology
"King of Pain"
(2000) 		"Hands Clean"
(2001) 		"Precious Illusions"
(2002)
Music video
"Hands Clean" on YouTube

"Hands Clean" is a song recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, for her fifth studio album, Under Rug Swept, which she released in 2002. It was written, composed, and produced by Morissette herself and released as the album's lead single on 8 February 2002. It features a shuffling, largely acoustic-rock framework. Lyrically, "Hands Clean" caused controversy, since it is reportedly the singer's recollection of a forbidden sexual relationship she shared with a much older man when she was approximately 14 years of age.

The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of whom immediately chose the track as an album standout compared to some of her previous material. "Hands Clean" did well through the charts. The song reached number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also peaked at number three on the US Billboard Adult Top 40 and topped the charts in New Zealand and Canada, where it became her sixth and most recent number-one single. An accompanying music video was released in 2002 for the single.

Background and release

After Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie – the 1998 follow-up to her 1995 breakthrough Jagged Little Pill – Morissette joined MTV for an unplugged album, released in 1999.[1] Subsequently, she neither wrote nor composed for a few months, before developing a new album, through 2000 and 2001.[2] During that period, she acknowledged she had learned, "That men in positions of power were not to be entirely trusted with my body and soul just because they were older than me."[3]

According to Jennifer Vineyeard of MTV News, the new album's topic was "love, sex, cruelty – with the added vantage of years spent growing up and getting over the man who vexed her so."[4] Morissette wrote, composed, and produced Under Rug Swept by herself, claiming to have been inspired by events in her life, such as a break-up with her boyfriend and her contract renegotiation with Maverick.[2] "I started writing alone," she said, "and within the first week I'd written seven songs. So it was all really fast and accelerated, and I think 'Hands Clean' was maybe the tenth song that I wrote and I just wrote it with a guitar in a room."[4]

Of the 27 songs written for the album,[5] "Hands Clean" was picked to be the first single and was released on 8 February 2002.[6] Before its official release, the song debuted on German radio on Christmas Eve, 2001.[7]

Composition and lyrical content

"Hands Clean," written, composed, and produced entirely by Alanis Morissette, features a shuffling, largely acoustic-rock framework[8] and a "pure-pop" hook.[5] It is written in the key of G major, with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. The introduction follows the chord progression of C–D–G/B–C that repeats throughout the song except for the bridge that is Em-C-G-D two times. Morissette's vocal range spans from the low-note of G4 to the high-note of G6.[9] The narrative voice of the song alternates; the verses are written from the presumed viewpoint of the other person in a relationship, an older man talking to a younger lover ("If it weren't for your maturity none of this would have happened/If you weren't so wise beyond your years I would've been able to control myself" [...] "I know you depend on me like a young thing would to a guardian/I know you sexualize me like a young thing would and I think I like it"), whereas the chorus and bridge represent her own feelings ("We'll fast forward to a few years later/And no one knows except the both of us/And I have honored your request for silence/And you've washed your hands clean of this").[8][10]

Lyrically, "Hands Clean" explores a past relationship and how its effects linger.[8] Jon Pareles of Rolling Stone went farther, writing that the song is about "an apparently matter-of-fact reminiscence of underage sex with a music-business mentor, an affair 'under rug swept.'"[10] However, he commented that the song holds not a hint of Lolita guilt, forbidden passion, or resentment compared to her furious take on the same situation in "Right Through You" on Jagged Little Pill.[10] Website Jam! Music dug deeper, writing that it "tells the story of her attempts to come to grips with an intergenerational affair that started when she was as young as 14,"[11] a statement also made by other critics.[12] In an interview for Q Magazine, Morissette confessed, "The grudge I hold is against myself for having been quiet for so long [...] I've covered his ass for so many years. So now it's almost like ... I wanted to liberate myself from not beating myself up any longer. It's almost irrespective of his involvement now; it's more about me and my relationship with my own past."[11]

In a track-by-track commentary on her album, Morissette further commented about the track:

"My intention in writing this song was to get to a place where I could be as truthful and as honest as I possibly could be about certain relationships in my past. It's definitely not with the intention of seeking any sort of revenge for the person who is at the heart of the song that I'm singing about, but it was in my silencing myself to protect somebody else that I was ultimately completely abandoning myself. And any time I speak untruths in my life, and often-times I feel by not speaking the truth, by being silent, there's an element of an untruth in that. Withholding the truth sometimes can feel just as horrible as a lie to me. So as I get older, I think I want more and more to introduce the bliss of speaking transparently and truthfully and as honestly as I possibly can, knowing that the truth in this case is my truth only."[13]

Critical reception

While choosing the song as a highlight from Under Rug Swept, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic compared its lyrics to her earlier hit "You Oughta Know," also noting that "this would all seem calculated, an attempt to regain her chart status, if Morissette wasn't so unabashedly earnest, seemingly unembarrassed by her confessions."[14] Stephen Thompson from The A.V. Club praised the track for being "a breezy new single" and "infectious enough to surpass the direst moment of 'Under Rug Swept.'"[15] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the song "could even be seen as a sequel to 'You Oughta Know,'"[16] while Nikki Tranter of Popmatters compared the lyrical content on the song to her previous songs "Plastic" and "Jealous," from her first album, Alanis.[17] Larry Flick of Billboard Magazine noted that the track show[s] Morissette proudly wearing her affection for concise, pure-pop hooks,"[5] while Mark Blake of Q called it "one of the album's peaks."[18] Kitty Empire of NME wrote a mixed review to the track, although calling it "a tolerable enough tune, mind, for those who think their chocolate craving says something poignant about their inner selves."[19]

Chart performance

"Hands Clean" was a commercial success in many territories, reaching the top-ten in over six countries, while also reaching the top-twenty in seven others. In the United States, the song debuted at number 65 on the week of 8 February 2002,[20] moving to number 49 the following week.[20] The song cracked the top-forty in its third week, climbing to number 39[citation needed] and peaked five weeks later at number 23,[21] due to an increase in radio play.[22] In other Billboard component charts, the song managed to reach number 19 on the Mainstream Top 40 and number three on the Adult Top 40. It is Morissette's only song to crack a Billboard year-end in a year other than 1996, as it narrowly cracked the 2002 year-end chart at number 95. In Canada, "Hands Clean" became her sixth number-one single.[23] In the United Kingdom, the song managed to debut at number twelve, becoming her highest since "Thank U" (1998) as well as her last top-twenty single on the UK charts.[24]

In Australia, "Hands Clean" debuted and peaked at number nine, on 8 February 2002. It became her highest-charting single there since "Ironic" in 1996 and her last to reach the top ten.[25] In New Zealand, the song experienced more success, debuting at number 48 but peaking at number one ten weeks later. It became Morissette's most successful single and first number-one hit,[26] while also receiving gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ). The song also experienced commercial success in some European countries, such as Italy, where it reached number three,[27] Norway, peaking at number seven,[28] and Switzerland, reaching number five.[29]

Music video

Background and synopsis

Francis Lawrence directed the music video for "Hands Clean."[30] It was televised and broadcast in January 2002 for the single's worldwide release.[31]

The video begins with Alanis sitting in a sushi bar when she spies a man (played by Chris Sarandon)[30] as he enters. She has a flashback to a time when she spurned his unwanted advances, and it had an effect on her. We see Alanis's memories played out on a television screen, and the process begins, recorded for public viewing and re-viewing. We see her writing about the relationship, guitar in hand, creating a song which she then records and takes to a record producer (played by Ian Gomez),[30] who presses it as a CD. She is soon posing for the CD sleeve photograph and shooting a video, which is played all over the world, just as the CD is being flown across oceans, in order to be put on display at hip record stores, where it is snapped up by many eager hands, including a girl in a beanie (played by Masiela Lusha).[32][33] At the video's conclusion, set a year after its beginning, Morissette again sees her former suitor enter the same sushi bar. Through her song, and the process of it becoming a hit and then a memory, she has come to terms with her past relationship. On seeing this person who had a profound effect on her this second time, she is able to move on: before departing the restaurant, she picks up a napkin and wipes her hands clean.

Reception

The video was generally praised for being short and simple. It has received 16.5 million views on YouTube by July 2019.[34]

Track listing

Australian CD 1 / UK CD 1
(242432)

  1. "Hands Clean" (album version) – 4:29
  2. "Fear of Bliss" (non-LP track) – 4:36
  3. "Sister Blister" (non-LP track) – 4:10

Australian CD 2 / EU maxi-single
(42433)

  1. "Hands Clean" – 4:29
  2. "Awakening Americans" – 4:25
  3. "Unprodigal Daughter" – 4:09
  4. "Symptoms" – 4:15

UK CD 2

  1. "Hands Clean" – 4:29
  2. "Unprodigal Daughter" – 4:09
  3. "Symptoms" – 4:15

US CD single
(574CD2)

  1. "Hands Clean" – 4:29
  2. "Awakening Americans" – 4:25
  3. "Symptoms" – 4:15

Official versions

  • "Hands Clean" (album version) – 4:29
  • "Hands Clean" (acoustic version) – 4:08
  • "Hands Clean" (radio edit) – 3:50
  • "Hands Clean" (sound check)

The album version has a repeat of the chorus before an instrumental solo plays until the end, while the radio edit only plays the chorus once at the end before the instrumental solo.

Charts and certifications

References

  1. ^ "Alanis Morissette | Biography | Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  2. ^ a b Sullivan, Kate (March 2002). "Well-Rounded Little Pill". Spin. 18 (3). SPIN Media LLC: 88. ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  3. ^ Blake, Mark (October 2001). ""I believed if I had sex I would be damned in hell forever"". Q. p. 48.
  4. ^ a b Vineyeard, Jennifer. "Alanis Morissette: The Silence is Over". MTV News. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  5. ^ a b c "Alanis Excels On Her Own". Billboard. 8 February 2002. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Hands Clean - Alanis Morissette | Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  7. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon (28 December 2001). "Alanis' Jagged Edge Returns on New Single, 'Hands Clean'". MTV. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  8. ^ a b c "'Under Rug Swept:' A Track Listing". Billboard. 114 (3). Nielsen Business Media, Inc.: 89. 8 February 2002. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Alanis Morissette "Hands Clean" Guitar Tab - Download & Print". MusicNotes.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
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  16. ^ Browne, David (8 February 2002). "Under Rug Swept | Music Reviews and News | EW.com". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
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