China in Your Hand
"China in Your Hand" is a song by the English pop group T'Pau, released from their album "Bridge of Spies". A re-recorded version was released as a single in October 1987, spending five weeks at number one in the UK, although their debut single "Heart and Soul" was a much bigger hit in the United States. "China in Your Hand" was the 600th single to top the UK charts and kept George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set on You" from hitting the top spot. The song also peaked at number 1 in Belgium, Iceland , Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 11th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV, and in 2017 was chosen by "The Daily Telegraph" as one of the 21 best power ballads. Background. The song's lyrics refer to the novel "Frankenstein" and its author Mary Shelley. This is more readily heard on the longer album version of the song, as the re-recorded single edit omits most of the more obvious references to the book. The song's title was more unclear however and  when quizzed, co-writer Ron Rogers was unsure of its source material. Lyric writer Carol Decker explained that it is the effect that if you hold a china cup to a light, you can see your hand through it – therefore "china in your hand" means something that is transparent. In a segment on the BBC1's "The One Show" on 6 March 2014, Carol Decker explained that she had been holding a china tea cup belonging to Ronnie Rogers' mother in her hand while washing up and had felt a lump in the bottom. She held the cup to the  light and saw an image of a young woman in the base of the cup. Decker had the cup with her and showed the viewers the image. The song is in the key of B-Flat major on the original album version, but the radio edit version is slightly sped up to reduce its length, resulting in the tuning being midway between B-Flat and B Major. Other versions. In 2011, contestant Amelia Lily performed the song on series 8 of UK's "The X Factor". Judge Gary Barlow said it was "nice to hear the song being sung in  tune for once", in mockery of Decker, who reacted to the comment via Twitter. Barlow would apologize later. Another song with the same title charted for the band Fusion in 1999. Track listing. 7" vinyl Side one Side two 12" vinyl Side one Side two