Show Your Hand - Origins and Recording

Origins and Recording

In an interview with Pitchfork Media given before the release of Hey Venus!, singer Gruff Rhys claimed "Show Your Hand" was "a song about gambling. There's lots of card-playing going on in the Super Furry Animals, which may have a slight influence on the subject matter". Rhys went on to state that the song was initially left off Hey Venus! for being "too generic":

I mean, we love The Zombies and bands of that era, and we felt maybe we'd pushed it too far, you know?

A combination of pressure from Rough Trade's Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee ("Where's that song gone? That's our favorite song!") and the addition of a French horn part, written by Cian Ciaran, resulted in the song finally taking its place on the record. Although the majority of the track was recorded at Miraval Studios, France along with the rest of Hey Venus!, additional recording also took place with Chris Shaw who mixed the album. According to Cian Ciaran both b-sides to "Show Your Hand", namely "Aluminium Illuminati" and "Never More", were originally recorded during sessions for 2003's Phantom Power although "Aluminium Illuminati" was mentioned as a working title as early as May 2000 in connection with 2001's Rings Around the World album.

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