Ball and Chain

About Ball and Chain

"Ball and Chain" (also "Ball 'n' Chain" or "Ball & Chain") is a blues song written and recorded by American blues artist Big Mama Thornton. Although her recording did not appear on the record charts, the song has become one of Thornton's best-known, largely due to performances and recordings by Janis Joplin.

Year:

2001

6:58

21 Views

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S-sitting down by my window,
Oh, looking at the rain
S-sitting down by my window now now,
All around I felt it,
All I could see was the rain
Something grabbed a hold of me, honey,
Felt to me honey like, lord, a ball and chain
Yeah! hey! you know what I mean,
But its way too heavy for you,
You cant hold it tomorrow

Say, whoa, whoa, honey, it cant be
Just because I got to want your love
Please please please please, whoa please, please
Whoa, honey it cant be
Just because I got to need you daddy.
Please don't you let me down, no, please, lord!
Here you gone today, but I wanted to love you,
I wanted to hold you, yeah, till the day I die,
Till the day, till the day,
Yeah! hey! hey! all right!

Say, whoa, whoa, honey this cant be
Not anything I ever wanted from you daddy
Tell me now, now, now, now, oh, tell me now, yeah
I say, whoa, whoa, honey this cant be
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, yeah yeah, hey!
And I want someone that could tell me, tell me why
Just because I got to want your love
Honey, just because I got to need, need, need your love
I said I don't understand, honey, but I wanna chance to try
Try, try, try, try try try try
Honey when everybody in the world wants the same damn thing
When everybody in the world will need the same lonely thing
When I wanna work for your love, daddy
When I wanna try for your love, daddy

I don't understand how come you're gone, man
I don't understand why half the
World is still crying, man, when the other half of the world is still
Crying too, man, I cant get it together 
If you got a cat for one day, man I mean, if you, say, say, if you want a
Cat for 365 days, right you ain't got him for 365 days, you got him for one
Day, man, well I tell you that one day
'N, better be your life, man
Because, you know, you can say, oh man, you
Can cry about the other 364, man, but you're gonna lose that one day, man,
And that's all you've got. you gotta call that man
That's what it is, man. if you got it today you don't want it
Tomorrow, man, cause you don't need it, cause as a matter of fact, as we
Discovered in the train, tomorrow never happens, 
It's all the same fucking day, man

So you gotta, when you wanna hold a sigh,
You gotta hold him like its the last minute in your life, baby
You gotta hold, whoa, whoa, hold him
'Cause someday some weights gonna come on your shoulders, babe,
It's gonna feel too heavy, its gonna weigh on you,
It's gonna feel just like a ball, ball, ball, oh daddy,
And a chain

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Big Mama Thornton

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984) was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The record was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953; the single sold almost two million copies. Its B-side was "Night Mare." Three years later, Elvis Presley recorded his even more broadly successful rendition of "Hound Dog," based on a version performed by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. Similarly, Thornton wrote and recorded "Ball 'n' Chain", which became a hit for her, yet Janis Joplin's later recording of it made a bigger impact in the late 1960s. more »

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