Otis Redding - "Chained and Bound"

It's true, I know, that men are born free but are everywhere in chains. It's a small consolation that a few of the many kinds of chains that bind us are paradoxically liberating. For instance, for some, including Otis, the chains of fidelity don't so much narrow the parameters of the possible as they do shift them to encompass something deeper. Yeah, Otis has been bound by the chains of his love, but the last thing he wants is his freedom, or the oppressive chains of untetheredness that he knows come with it.

It's kind of like how men are born naked, but are everywhere in clothes. Or how men are born stupid but are everywhere much smarter than when they were born. Or how men are born ten inches tall, but are everywhere at least six times taller than that. Or how I was born yellow (jaundice), but am everywhere beige. You know?

"Chained and Bound," is not a perfect song; it is merely very good. Otis Redding was freed of the chains of this world shortly after he recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," a song that promised so much. What he left behind are a great many vocal performances that far exceed the quality of his songs. This is one of those. When he first sings the words "chained and bound," someone - is it the drummer? an idle hornblower? Otis himself? - lets out a small "woah." It's a statement of wonderment, of genuine astonishment that something so insignificant as this lyric, as flawed as this little ballad, as limited as this human voice, as imminent as these waves of sound (all chains), can set so much in us free. [Buy]

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Alfreda Brockington - "Chained and Bound"

Because women are born free too, and are also everywhere in chains. Because they too are born naked, but are clothed. Because women babies are just as stupid as the others, and grow to be just as smart. Because female hatchlings are also extremely small people who grow to be "taller than the tallest pine, sweeter than a grape on a vine." [Buy]