“Ball and Chain” is a hit song by Social Distortion

Social Distortion

Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness , Jonny Wickersham , Brent Harding and David Hidalgo, Jr...

, a Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band, featured on their self-titled

Social Distortion (album)

Social Distortion is the eponymous third studio album by the American punk rock band Social Distortion, released on March 27, 1990, through Epic Records. After touring in support of its previous full-length studio album, Prison Bound , Social Distortion signed with Epic in 1989 and began work on...

 album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, released

Release (music)

In the music industry, a release is usually a term referring to the creative output from an artist available for sale or distribution; a broad term covering the many different formats music can be released in, and different forms of pieces .The word can also refer to the event at which an album or...

 in 1990, as well as on Live at the Roxy

Live at the Roxy (Social Distortion album)

Live at the Roxy is a live album by the Southern California punk rock group Social Distortion. It was released on June 30, 1998, on their own Time Bomb label...

(1998).

In the words of lead singer/writer Mike Ness

Mike Ness

Mike Ness is an American guitarist, vocalist, and chief songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1978. As of Dennis Danell's death in 2000, he is now the only original member of the band...

, Ball and Chain is “a hard luck story,” a forceful cry, a lament, a plea, a “folk prayer,” which opens with the lines

Well it’s been ten years and a thousand tears

and look at the mess I’m in,

a broken nose and a broken heart

an empty bottle of gin…

and for which the chorus is

Take away, take away

Take away this ball and chain

I'm lonely and I’m tired

And I can’t take any more pain

Long after its first release, “Ball and Chain” remains a concert staple.

Trivia

• The song was played on episodes of My Name Is Earl
  My Name Is Earl
  My Name Is Earl is an American television comedy series created by Greg Garcia that was originally broadcast on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States...
  
  and on Scrubs
  Scrubs (TV series)
  Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
  
  as well as the film
  Film
  A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
  
   Jarhead
  Jarhead (film)
  Jarhead is a 2005 biographical drama war film based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 1991 Gulf War memoir of the same name, directed by Sam Mendes, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford with co-stars Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard, and Chris Cooper. The title comes from the slang term used to refer to...
  
  (2005)
• The song was covered frequently in concert by the late ’90s Atlanta indie band Alastor led by Elizabeth Elkins, who went on to form The Swear.
• Frontman Mike Ness
  Mike Ness
  Mike Ness is an American guitarist, vocalist, and chief songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1978. As of Dennis Danell's death in 2000, he is now the only original member of the band...
  
   recorded a “Honky Tonk” version of this song on his solo album Under the Influences
  Under the Influences
  Under the Influences, the second solo album from Social Distortion's Mike Ness, is a compilation of country, rock, and bluegrass covers released just six months after his first solo effort, Cheating at Solitaire. As the title implies, Ness intends the album to be an illustration of the music that...
  
  in 1999.
• The song was also transcribed in the January 2005 issue of Guitar World
  Guitar World
  Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
  
  .
• The song is covered by Jackson Taylor on his album Aces 'n Eights
• The song was used as the entrance song for Ricardo Almeida
  Ricardo Almeida
  Ricardo Almeida is a retired Brazilian-American mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grappler residing in Bordentown, New Jersey.-Background:...
  
   at UFC 101
  UFC 101
  UFC 101: Declaration was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 8, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
  
  .
• The song appears in the videogame Saints Row: The Third on fictional radio station The Mix 107.77.