"Take These Chains from My Heart" is a song by Hank Williams.
"[2] Williams is backed by Tommy Jackson (fiddle), Don Helms (steel guitar), Chet Atkins (lead guitar), Jack Shook (rhythm guitar), and Floyd "Lightnin'" Chance (bass).
[3] In the wake of Williams' death on New Year's Day, 1953, the song shot to No.
1, his final chart-topping hit for MGM Records.
Like "Your Cheatin' Heart," the song's theme of despair, so vividly articulated by Williams' typically impassioned singing, reinforced the image of Hank as a tortured, mythic figure.