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.

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 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, maaan...

It's all the same fucking 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.

Janiiiiis.....i have 2 soundboard concerts of hers one that was recorded 3 days before i was alive... can u dig it?.... her version of Summertime... makes me fall to my knees.... Ball n chain is a classic... great Pick by young ladywho was taken away from usway to soon at the age of only 27..

I just bought The Essential Janis today, cuz I found it used at the wrecka stow...I far prefer the ranty version of Ball & Chain that I cut-n-pasted above to the version on the "Essential" CD, but both are great....Janis is just, like, WOW to me. I can't just listen to a song or an album by her...I gotta go on Janis benders for days and get her outta my system. Hearing a little bit of her is like coming down with a cold - she always takes some time to shake. I love love LOVE me some Janis...

Anxiety said:

i can never ever get enough of Janis.. shes missed... without question...

I'm a little afraid of the Janis bio-pics coming out in the next year or two, but if it turns more folks on to her music, I suppose the ends justify the means. I think a spiffed-up re-release of the documentary made about her would do the trick just fine, though...

Anxiety said:

that would be awesome personally i think Hollywood is trynna cash in on the dreaded "27" club..

Jimi Janis and Jim... all died at 27.... a lil uncanny ya think??? and all with J's.. hmmmmm

Now THAT is genius!! Ball & Chain - amazing song.
Check out 'Box of Pearls' well worth the buy!!

Anxiety said:

I think the best version is the one on "Cheap Thrills" which I think was recorded live at Winterland. The Monterey version is smokin' also , but not widely available.You can see that performance on the Monterey Pop DVD set, along with "Combination Of The Two"

Congratulations on your purchase of "Essential". It almost has all the Janis you'll need.

kremlinshadow said:

I have quite a bit of Janis stuff...I don't have all her studio albums, but I have Pearl, Farewell Song, the old "Greatest Hits" and I think one other that I can't remember at the moment...and of course, now I have the Essential collection (I'm very impressed with the "Essential" series, by the way...I have ones for The Clash, Sly and the Family Stone and TTD, and I love 'em all)...so Box of Pearls is a must have, huh? I feel like there's such a limited amount of Janis recordings out there, I don't know what is good and what's a cash-in.

Anxiety said:

Box of Pearls contains the two Big Brother albums,and her two solo albums(Kozmic Blues & Pearl) all with bonus tracks + an EP with 5 previously unreleased trax.Its a good buy if you need all her albums at once , but "Essential" covers alot of ground.

There is a low price 3-fer out now that contains "Cheap Thrills" ,"Kozmic Blues" and "Pearl".
Ive seen it at Sam's Club with similar sets for EWF,Aerosmith,etc...

There is also an early 90s box that has a pretty good overview of her career.

You arent kidding about that "Essential" series.Great sets .Especially the 2-disc ones.
I have the Janis one, the Sly one ,EWF, Stevie Ray Vaughan,Heart,The Byrds,Santana,
and a few others.The remastering on them is brilliant.

Love this tune and Summertime.

I think its the Monterey footage (the same one Jimi torched his strat) that made me appreciate what Janis Joplin was. She sings this song and it just leaves your heart in your throat. So much power and tenderness all mixed up with Southern Comfort.