Slow Hand

Album: Black & White (1981)
Charted: 10 2
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Songfacts®:

  • In the early '80s, Karen Carpenter wanted her lover to Touch Me When We're Dancing and Olivia Newton-John wanted to get "Physical," but The Pointer Sisters made it clear that slow, sensual love was their priority. The songs were all written by men - this one by John Bettis and Michael Clark.
  • This song followed in the vein of "Fire," a 1978 hit for The Pointer Sisters that was written by Bruce Springsteen. That one finds them boiling over with passion for the man who is pulling them close, presumably with a slow hand.
  • Conway Twitty showed that this song has a great deal of country appeal when he recorded it in 1982. His version went to #1 on the Country chart. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Mike - Santa Barbara, CA
  • The lyricist John Bettis also wrote the words to several Carpenters' hits including "Top Of The World" and "Goodbye to Love" as well as Whitney Houston's "One Moment In Time."
  • This was featured in a Schick razor commercial in the late '80s when more and more songs were being used to promote products in exchange for hefty compensation or corporate sponsorship. It was a thorny issue for industry veterans and artists who turned their noses at "selling out." Not so for John Bettis.

    "In a way it's the ultimate compliment. It's like your song is part of the culture, so recognizable that it's a kind of celebrity. As long as these commercials are tasteful - and I think the Schick one is - it's fine," he told BAM magazine. But, he warned, there's a catch: "By allowing a song to be used in a commercial, you're cutting off any immediate follow-up cover possibilities. For instance, 'Slow Hand' was a #2 hit for the Pointers. A year later, Conway Twitty recorded it and had a #1 country hit. Had I allowed it to be used in a commercial right after the Pointers had a hit with it, Twitty would never have covered it. So you've got to be careful."

Comments: 5

  • Mark from CaliforniaThe three weeks that "Slow Hand" was at #2 on the Hot 100 (having reached that position on 29 August 1981), "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross (formerly of the Commodores and the Supremes, respectively) was at #1.
  • Jack from Brookline, MaI saw the Pointer Sisters in Boston this past summer at the Free Summer Concert series thanks to Oldies 103.3! They had one of their daughters (now in her early-mid 20's I'm pretty sure) as the third singer in the group! She was pretty good too! The Sister's still have it!
  • Garrett from Phenix City, AlI have heard both the Conway Twitty and the Pointer Sisters' version of this song, and personally, I like Conway's version better. I have sung this song numerous times in shows, and me being a country singer and a male, it is easier for me to relate to his version: lyrics and style. Mind you, I have nothing against the other version, but as I said, I can relate to Conway's better. You should give it a listen if you haven't heard it. AWESOME!!!!
  • Eugene from Minneapolis, MnNo,Guy (from the Washington State)it is not just you. This is exactly what I was thinking, really. Nice n Slow is the way to go, my friend!
  • Guy from Woodinville, WaMaybe it's just me, but I have always heard the line "I want somebody who will spend some time,
    Not come and go in a heated rush" as a graphic double-entendre reference to sex.
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