Everything I’ve ever done’s gone belly up or bust
Don’t ask you to believe me now I don’t deserve your trust
Just let me prove to you that I’m a new man, I gone straight
Next time that I see you let’s pretend it’s our first date
I looked into my past and I don’t much like what I see
A chain around my neck of things that I don’t want to be
A chain around my neck of lies and bitterness and pride
A chain that doesn’t let you see the man I am inside

Chain around my neck
Can’t move this way or that way
A train that jumped its track
It don’t let me move forward
It don’t let me move back
Chain around my neck

If you left me now, no one could say that you were wrong
But my life is a place where I am certain you belong
I know that our love can be as solid as a rock
All I need is one more chance baby to unlock
This chain around my neck…

Each link on the chain is choking
But each link on the chain can be broken
Each link takes your love away from me
But only your love can set me free

From this chain around my neck…

(lyrics: Dan Bern)