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Shake a Hand

Rating:
4.0 / 5

Words & Music: Joe Morris

Just leave it to me
Don't ever be ashamed
Just give me a chance
I'll take care of everything

Your troubles I'll share
Let me know and I'll be there
I'll stay close to you
Anyplace and anywhere

Shake a hand, shake a hand
Shake a hand if you can

Be truthful to me,
I'll be truthful to you
I'm in love with you so
Till I don't know what to do

So, let's call it a day
I said all I have to say
Except don't forget to pray
And shake a hand ev'ry day

Shake a hand, shake a hand,
Shake a hand if you can

Recordingdate: 1975/03/11, first released on: Today (album)

Musicians

Musicians who contributed to the first recording of Shake a Hand:

(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(bass)
(drums)
(piano)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(clavinet)

Others*

(guitar)
(steel guitar)
(bass)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(percussion)
(baritone saxophone)
(sax)
(trombone)
(trumpet)

*Orchestra, overdubs

Availability

Find available albums with Shake a Hand.

Steve V wrote on September 05, 2009
One of the better songs from the mid-70s' but again Elvis needed a lot newer material than to just keep doing covers. Still a whole LP of R&B covers like this would have been a nice project.
Monster wrote on February 20, 2010
Enjoyable song from the Today album. I just listened to one of the ultra live versions from the Asville 75 concerts and it sounded like a hell of a lot of fun live. A slightly different change of pace for the King on stage and he sounded like he was having a ball performing it. Strange why it never became a regular fixture in the setlist.
old shep wrote on June 19, 2010
A good song from one of my top ten Elvis albums.
Deano1 wrote on June 19, 2010
A strong, soulful track with Elvis in fine voice from the 1975 LP "Elvis Today". This LP would have been one of Elvis' best had the songs "Bringin' It Back" and "Fairytale" not been on it. BIB is very poorly written and Elvis' voice is poorly projected. On "Fairytale", Elvis tries to hard and sounds as if he is straining. His later live versions of this song were much better. SAH is a four star track and the album gets 3 1/2 stars.
JerryNodak wrote on June 19, 2010
Enjoyable album track, but nothing special.
bajo wrote on August 23, 2011
To me, Shake A Hand is a nice bluesy delivery by Elvis. Good vocal and feel to the song. As with the album as a whole, I really like it. The Today album has always been a fav listen since I first heard it. To me it's one of the better 70's studio albums. It's simply a good listen imo!
Lpool kid wrote on August 23, 2011
loved the song and the vocalization by elvis and the lp was one of his best albums of the '70's.five stars for album and song.
lvisfan wrote on August 23, 2011
This is one of my all time favorite Elvis albums. The mix is great! Especially with the way they brought out Ronniw Tutts drumming. They boom! I love the songs on there, especially "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" and "Pieces OF My Life".
ElvisDJ wrote on August 23, 2011
My least favorite song on one of my favorite Elvis LPs, and the one I skip most often. For some reason this song never really clicked with me. While I can appreciate Elvis' performance, overall Shake A Hand ranks with a very, very few Elvis songs that I just don't listen to often.
TCB1974 wrote on August 23, 2011
This is the kind of song that Elvis understood from the inside out and easily could have milked out for another few minutes, similar to a song like I'll hold you in my heart. I've always liked the March 1975 studio recordings and this song. Four stars from me.
Gorse wrote on March 14, 2013
Not a song I actively seek out, but find it extremely enjoyable whenever I give it a spin. Love the barrel organ piano tinkling away and the laid back bluesy approach by Elvis. - 4 stars from me.
Natha wrote on March 14, 2013
One of those songs I hardly ever listen to and tend to skip. Everything besides the chorus is worthwhile, but I just don't like the chorus.
Great Dane wrote on March 14, 2013
A 4 stars song on a 5 stars album. Love this album.
alanfalk wrote on March 14, 2013
Great song from a great album, and this is a good example of how stupid it is to wish that Elvis had retired in 71, or say that the 70' was a bad decade . Just because ones personal taste is R&b (the cool peoples choice), then it doesn't follow that other kinds of music is in bad taste. As I see it Elvis is Elvis because he did what he liked and you could never put him in a box, music vise. This song is a 4 star song, but Elvis was a 5 star performer throughout his entire carer !
GEORGE (GK) wrote on March 15, 2013
Without a doubt, "Elvis Today" is a real good album. I have lots of favorites on this LP. And even though, the studio version of "Shake a hand" is good. This is one of those rare occasions, when the "live versions" of "Shake a Hand" were better ! Shame we didn't get this on a good quality "Live album".
ElvisSacramento wrote on March 15, 2013
This is such a stellar song and Elvis' rendition of it was excellent. It was such a magnificent addition to the "Today" album.
sugartummy wrote on May 01, 2013
Elvis doesn't change the tempo off Faye Adams 1953 original. Still I wonder how this one would have sounded at Sun in 1954, 1955.
shawnrw wrote on July 13, 2014
Powerful performance of a classic spiritual. Really one of Elvis's best efforts of the 70's.
atomic powered poste wrote on September 29, 2018
Far from beeing a true highlight, this is a decent song, one of the better recordings from an acceptable but overall mediocre lp. 3 stars.
Cruiser621 wrote on September 29, 2018
3 stars. An average album track for me.
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