Ball And Chain Lyrics

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 it's way too heavy for you,
You can't hold it tomorrow.

Say, whoa, whoa, honey, it can't be
Just because I got to want your love
Please please please please, whoa please, please.
Whoa, honey it can't 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 can't 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 can't 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 can't get it together. I mean, 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, man, 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 love, 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, man. It's all the same f**king day, man.

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

Janis Joplin - 18 Essential Songs

Jan 1995

1. Trouble In Mind
2. Down On Me
3. Bye, Bye Baby
4. Ball And Chain (Live)
5. Piece of My Heart
6. I Need A Man To Love
7. Summertime (from 'Porgy & Bess')
8. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
9. One Good Man
10. Kozmic Blues
11. Raise Your Hand (Live)
12. Tell Mama
13. Move Over
14. Mercedes Benz
15. Get It While You Can
16. Half Moon
17. Trust Me Janis Joplin
18. Me And Bobby McGee