The Meaning Behind Georgia Satellites’ “Keep Your Hands to Yourself”

Dan Baird of the Georgia Satellites will forever be associated with “Keep Your Hands to Yourself.” In February 1987, you couldn’t turn around without hearing the searing guitar licks from those boys from Georgia. 

Baird told Gitarre & Bass Magazine in 2020, “When I realized that I was going to play that song for the rest of my life, I went, ‘Well, that was your handshake to the world. Hi, my name’s Dan.’”

A Long Hard “Night”

The overnight success had been seven years in the making. It started as Baird was riding the city bus home from his job as a surveyor in 1980. He literally had some change in his pocket as he was zoning out on public transportation. The first verse and part of the second just came to him. He didn’t have a pen or paper to write it down, so he just kept chanting it repeatedly until he arrived home. His wife met him at the door as he rushed to find a piece of paper to write down what he had been repeating.  

I got a little change in my pocket goin’ jing-a-ling-a-ling
Want to call you on the telephone baby, a-give you a ring
But each time we talk, I get the same old thing
Always no hug-ee, no kiss-ee until I get a weddin’ ring
My honey, my baby, don’t put my love upon no shelf
She said don’t hand me no lines, and keep your hands to yourself

Baird completed the second verse then and there and the main content of the song was done. Like so many of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll songs, it came together in no time. 

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Just for a Laugh

In 2005, Baird shared, “‘Keep Your Hands’ was written to make our drummer, my good friend David Michaelson laugh. That’s all it was written for, and he did laugh.”

Baby, baby baby, why you wanna treat me this way
You know I’m still your lover, boy. I still feel the same way
That’s when she told me a story ’bout free milk and a cow
And said no hug-ee no kiss-ee until I get a weddin’ vow
My honey, my baby, don’t put my love upon no shelf
She said don’t hand me no lines, and keep your hands to yourself

Baird was playing with a band called Keith and the Satellites every Monday night at Hedgens in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta. They changed their name to Georgia Satellites and recorded six songs at Axis Studios, but nothing happened. There was no record label interest, and the group disbanded. End of story, right?

Hold it here
See, I wanted her real bad, and I was about to give in
But that’s when she started talking about true love,
Started talking about sin
And I said, honey, I’ll live with you for the rest of my life,
She said no hug-ee, no kiss-ee until you make me your wife-a
My honey, my baby, don’t put my love upon no shelf
She said don’t hand me no lines, and keep your hands to yourself

U.K. Saves the Day

The story is just beginning. Kevin Jennings, the band’s manager, took the demo to a British label named Making Waves and convinced them to release it as an E.P. Keep the Faith got good reviews in Melody Maker and NME. The Satellites were rejuvenated, and they reunited.

Mike Bone of Elektra Records heard the demo and was convinced that “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” was a hit. He convinced the A&R department. An advance was arranged, and the band went into Cheshire Sound Studios and recorded their debut album. The band channeled their influences: NRBQ, Carl Perkins, The Johnny Burnette Trio, and Rockpile. Several attempts were made to better the version of “Keep Your Hands to Yourself,” but all agreed it couldn’t be topped. They remixed the demo recording, and that was the version included on the album.

Georgia Satellites was released in October 1986. Radio got their hands on “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” in November. The music video was in heavy rotation, and the song charged right up the charts. In February 1987, it peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, just behind “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi.

Epilogue

The band went on to make two more full-length albums and had success with a version of “Hippy Hippy Shake” on the soundtrack to Cocktail. Baird left the band in 1990 to pursue a solo career. His biggest success was “I Love You Period” in 1992, which reached no. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. He went on to be in several bands, including The Suffering Bastards, The Bluefields, and Homemade Sin, which included two former Satellites as well as Warner Hodges of Jason and the Scorchers fame.

In 2013, a Buick Lacrosse commercial used “Keep Your Hands to Yourself. An anxious father is driving his daughter and her date to a school dance. 

The father plays a few songs over the stereo as an obvious message to the young man in the back seat, “All right, Dad, we get it.”

In 2021, Baird told Otis Gibbs, “The song has…it transformed my life, financially, by…I have to be wise how I spend my money, but I never have to work a day. You know, I don’t have to do an honest job for the rest of my life.”

Hank Williams, Jr, The Charlie Daniels Band, George Thorogood, John Anderson, and Aaron Tippin have all covered the song. Garth Brooks has performed it in concert many times through the years.

The song is the perfect example of a timeless rock ‘n’ roll tale with humor and Chuck Berry-style chops. A hundred years from now, a kid is gonna pick up a guitar and start playing that opening riff.

Photo by David Redfern/Redferns