This is a song idea I had pretty much fleshed out at home, but I still didn't know how the main vocal was going to go over the "churchy" background vocals in the chorus. Then my publisher put me together with Jenni Muldaur, a debut artist on Warner Brothers whom I had already formed a strong friendship with along with her then husband Scott Mathews, from months together on the "Nearly Human" world tour with Todd Rundgren. We got together in some highfalutin hotel room in Los Angeles and put the final pieces together, then went over to Mark Bazilian's house (he wrote "One of Us" for Joan Osborne) and spun our wheels for a whole afternoon before we finally got a good demo of it. Kim Carnes heard it, recorded it, and had it on her "Greatest Hits" album about two weeks after we wrote it.

I finally got my version of it when my live group, "Love Ride 7," spent an evening and got it on tape.

Oh, no
I read what you wrote
And it feels like chains to me
You keep me tied up
With your talk about love that never sets us free
When I read what you say
I hear desperation in every cliche
You're daring me to break these chains
	I read your letter and it feels like chains
	It's a chain letter
	I read your letter and it's chaining me to you . . .
Goodbye
You said goodbye
You hurt me so bad
And then you come back
I hear your steps in the hall and a letter under the door
Then I read what you say:
"We've made a terrible mistake"
And it's more than I can take
It's a chain . . .
		By now all the sweet things you're begging to say
		Are just marks on a page
		I hear desperation
		I hear calculation
		I hear you dare me to break these chains . . .

Lance Taber -- guitars
Bruce Spencer -- drums
Larry Tagg -- lead and harmony vocals, bass, and keyboards
Recorded at Cory's house by Cory Fite, and
David's mom's garage by David Houston
Mixed by David Houston