"Hands Open" is a song by Northern Irish–Scottish

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland, consisting of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), and Johnny McDaid (piano, guitar, keyboards, backi ...

, released on 16 October 2006 as the third single of their fourth album, '' Eyes Open'' (2006). It received substantial radio play on modern rock radio, peaking at number 21 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart. However, it did not cross over to any other radio formats, unlike the previous single, "

Chasing Cars "Chasing Cars" is a song by Northern Irish–Scottish alternative rock band Snow Patrol, released on 6 June 2006 in the United States and 24 July in the United Kingdom as the second single of their fourth album, '' Eyes Open'' (2006). The son ...

". The third verse references American indie-folk singer/songwriter

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...

and the song "

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

" with the lyrics "Put Sufjan Stevens on/And we'll play your favorite song/'Chicago' bursts to life/And your sweet smile remembers you." The song was featured in the PC game '' LMA Manager 2007''. Two videos were shot for this song. The first one, released with the single, shows Gary Lightbody walking through a city and tearing holes on the landscape at certain points. Upon entering them, he joins the rest of the band as they play and sings one part of the song, before going out and walking a bit more until tearing another hole and rejoining the band, in a cycle which repeats a few times throughout the video. The second one, accompanying the Australian single release, consists of a series of clips of the band during an U.S. tour. In Australasia, the cover art is identical to that of " Set the Fire to the Third Bar", due to the latter not being released as a single there.

Track listings

*US promo CD single # "Hands Open" – 3:17 *Digital download # "Hands Open" (Freelance Hellraiser Remix) – 6:30 *Australian single # "Hands Open" – 3:15 # "Chasing Cars" (Live in Berlin) - 4:28

Official versions

* "Hands Open" (album version) – 3:17 * "Hands Open" (Freelance Hellraiser Remix) – 6:30

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* Snow Patrol songs 2005 singles Song recordings produced by Jacknife Lee Songs written by Gary Lightbody 2005 songs Songs written by Jonny Quinn Songs written by Nathan Connolly Songs written by Tom Simpson (musician) Songs written by Paul Wilson (musician) Interscope Records singles {{2000s-indie-rock-song-stub