Hold My Hand (Dave Davies song)

"Hold My Hand"
Single by Dave Davies with The Kinks
B-side	"Creeping Jean"
Released	17 January 1969
Format	7" single
Recorded	1968
Genre	Pop
Label	Pye Records
Writer(s)	Dave Davies
Dave Davies with The Kinks singles chronology
"Lincoln County" (1968) "Hold My Hand" (1969) "Imagination's Real" (1980)

"Hold My Hand" is a song and single recorded and written by Dave Davies, who is best known as the guitarist for the British rock group The Kinks. The song is Davies' fourth single.

Recording

Like the previous three Dave Davies singles, "Hold My Hand" featured Dave Davies' band mates from The Kinks providing some of the instrumentation.^[1] It was recorded in 1968 (at the same time that The Kinks' critically acclaimed LP, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society was being recorded.)^[1] It was also one of the last tracks that featured The Kinks' longtime bassist, Pete Quaife.^[2]

Release and reception

Dave Davies said in an interview prior to the song's release, "[I]f 'Hold My Hand' does click, I'll be free to do my own cabaret act if I want. I would use all new material, except maybe, a couple of the Kinks' hit records, but given a different treatment so that it suited a solo voice. Probably work with a small group. I'd love to have a go at this sort of act, but you know how things get talked about, then flop off."^[3]

After the failure of its predecessor, "Lincoln County", "Hold My Hand" was released in 1969 as a standalone single, backed with "Creeping Jean" (which, although it wasn't released on any Kinks albums, has been a live favorite of Dave Davies's.)^[2] However, like "Lincoln County", the single was a failure. It did not chart in any country, even in the Netherlands, where the unsuccessful "Lincoln County" hit #15. After the immense flop of "Hold My Hand", Dave Davies put his solo career on hold, not releasing any new material non-related to The Kinks until 1980.

Writer Andy Miller named the "Hold My Hand" single "fabulous."^[1]

References