"Take These Chains from My Heart" is a song by
Hank Williams. It was written by
Fred Rose and
Hy Heath and was recorded at Williams' final recording session on September 23, 1952, in
Nashville. The song has been widely praised; Williams' biographer
Colin Escott deems it "perhaps the best song [Rose] ever presented to Hank...It was one of the very few songs that sounded somewhat similar to a Hank Williams song."[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.