"Take Your Partner by the Hand" is a 1998 song by

Howie B Howard Bernstein (born 18 April 1963, Glasgow, Scotland), professionally known as Howie B, is a Scottish musician, producer and DJ who has worked with artists including: Björk, U2, Tricky, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soul II Soul, Robbi ...

featuring

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel in ...

. It samples

The Electric Prunes The Electric Prunes are an American psychedelic rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. Much of the band's music was, as music historian Richie Unterberger described it, possessed of "an eerie and sometimes anguished ambiance." T ...

' " Holy Are You". The song was the least commercially successful of the three singles from the ''

Turn the Dark Off ''Turn the Dark Off'' is a 1997 album by Howie B. It made #58 on the UK Albums Chart and at the end of that year was voted at #47 on NME's 1997 Critics' Poll. Background ''Turn the Dark Off'' is a less repetitive work than his first album, ''Mu ...

'' album, charting at #74 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Background

In an interview, Howie B said of the song:

Robbie Robertson from The Band, Bob Dylan's backing band is on it. He phoned me up three or four months ago when I was doing the U2 stuff. He was like, 'Howie I've just heard something you've done. I don't know if you know who I am but I'd love to do some tunes'. I was like, 'Magic! let's do that! ' He kept sending me cassettes in Dublin. In December we hooked up and did three tunes. Crazy fucking tunes. Then when I finished my album I sent him out a CD and he rang up and said, 'Howie I'd love to do a vocal on 'Take Your Partner By The Hand'. I was like, 'Magic!'"

According to the album's liner notes, Howie B notes that it is the only song on the album with coherent vocals on it.

Music video

A music video was produced for the song by Run Wrake.

Critical reception

Jim DeRogatis James Peter DeRogatis (born September 2, 1964) is an American music critic and co-host of ''Sound Opinions''. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as ''Rolling Stone'', '' Spin'', ''Guitar World'' and ''Modern Drummer'', and for 15 ...

gave the song a negative review, saying, "For the benefit of those older listeners who are still having trouble with this new-fangled music, Howie B includes 'Take Your Brother By the Hand', a track co-written by former Band leader Robbie Robertson. It features Robertson reciting pseudo-Beat poetry ('Where am I, on this elevator to nowhere?') over a strange and slinky groove, but it never really establishes a mood". Electronicmusic.com disagreed, saying, "A narrative on 'Take Your Partner By The Hand' describes some dreamy inner city situation similar to the ramblings of the entrepreneur on

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...

' Slave To The Rythm icwho subsequently icjettisons her to stardom".

Appearances in other media

The

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop duo ...

remix of the song was featured in the album ''

Contact from the Underworld of Redboy ''Contact from the Underworld of Redboy'' is an album by Robbie Robertson. It was released in 1998 by Capitol Records. The album is composed of music inspired by Aboriginal Canadian music (including traditional Aboriginal Canadian songs and chants ...

''. It was also included in Robertson's 2002's compilation album, ''Classic Masters'', which raised the ire of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

chief editor

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

, who dismissed it as a "non-starter, since not only did he not have hits from this era, he made albums that were mood pieces, intended to be taken that way".

References

{{Authority control 1998 songs Songs written by Robbie Robertson Polydor Records singles 1998 singles