"Ricky's Hand" is a song by

Fad Gadget Francis John Tovey (8 September 1956 – 3 April 2002), known also by his stage name Fad Gadget, was a British avant-garde electronic musician and vocalist. He was a proponent of both new wave and early industrial music, fusing pop-structured ...

, released as a single in 1980. It was the second Fad Gadget single, following "Back to Nature" the previous year. The track was not included on any studio album, predating a debut LP by several months, but does appear on several compilations.

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

founder Daniel Miller collaborated on the writing, playing and production. Lyrically the song was a sardonic

cautionary tale A cautionary tale is a tale told in folklore to warn its listener of a danger. There are three essential parts to a cautionary tale, though they can be introduced in a large variety of ways. First, a taboo or prohibition is stated: some act, lo ...

on the perils of

drink driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is i ...

: "From the pocket it pulled five pound / Ricky bought another round… Ricky contravened the highway code / The hand lies severed at the side of the road". The cover of the original vinyl single showed the hand in question being burnt by drops of

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

in the fashion of a corrosive warning symbol. The music was in a predominantly

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style with an insistent electronic beat. A plaintive motif opened the track and recurred during the chorus, occasionally augmented by a distinctive 'choir girl effect', as it was described in the credits. An

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was also listed among the instruments; it can heard on the recording punctuating each mention of the song's title. The B-side, "Handshake", was an instrumental that essentially mixed up the sounds used on the A-side. The blackly comical double meaning of its title was made evident by a cartoon strip on the single's rear sleeve depicting a

blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

being filled with milk, a man inserting his hand into the blender, and the device being switched on – with bloody results. The single did not make the UK charts when released but was featured on some contemporary compilations such as ''Machines'' (1980). "Ricky's Hand" also appears on the CD compilations ''

The Fad Gadget Singles ''The Fad Gadget Singles'' is the 1986 collection of singles by British musician Fad Gadget. The album versions of these songs are not only of differing lengths, they were also often alternative mixes. The songs span the career of Fad Gadget fro ...

'' (1992) and '' The Best of Fad Gadget'' (2001). Fad Gadget sang it on the Belgian RTBF show ''Cargo De Nuit'' in 1980 with his two live musicians at the time, Phil Wauquaire and

Jean-Marc Lederman Jean-Marc Lederman is a Belgium, Belgian keyboard player and record producer, producer. He has worked with bands such as Fad Gadget, The The, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Weathermen (Belgian band), The Weathermen, Belgian rock band Streets, and Front ...

Track listing

#"Ricky's Hand" – 4:06 #"Handshake" – 4:47

Personnel

–

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, tapes,

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V8 double speed

* Daniel Miller – synthesizer * B.J. Frost – choir girl effect

References

George Gimarc George Douglas Gimarc ( ; born 1957) is an American disc jockey, record and radio program producer and author based in Texas and is in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. He is known for his extensive and authoritative knowledge about the classic rock ...

(2005). ''Punk Diary: 1970-1982'' {{Authority control 1980 singles 1980 songs Mute Records singles British new wave songs