"Chains Of Love", a

12-bar blues The twelve-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly base ...

, was written by

Doc Pomus Jerome Solon Felder (June 27, 1925 – March 14, 1991), known professionally as Doc Pomus, was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-writer of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hal ...

(a.k.a. Jerome Solon Felder).

Background

Pomus who sold the copyright to

Ahmet Ertegun Ahmet Ertegun ( ; , ; July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and championed many lead ...

in 1950 for $50.00 (referencing Doc Pomus and his family). Since Ertegun owned the copyright from that point forward, he had legal right to claim the song as his own which he did using the pseudonym "A. Nugetre".

Big Joe Turner recording

The first recording by

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him". Turner's greatest fa ...

(as Joe Turner) was in 1951, reaching number 2 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

.. Turner's version was his first success on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

label established by Ertegun.

Popular cover versions

*In 1956, the song was

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author, television personality, radio host and philanthropist. He sold nearly 50 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and has acted in many films. Boone ...

, whose version made no. 10 on the ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

. *Another commercially successful version was by

Bobby Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was describ ...

, whose recording reached no. 9 on the R&B chart and no. 60 on the Hot 100 in 1969.Whitburn, ''Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-1995'', p.35 *American country music artist

Mickey Gilley Mickey Leroy Gilley (March 9, 1936 – May 7, 2022) was an American country music singer, businessman, actor, and musician. Among his hits are " Room Full of Roses", " Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time", and “ Lonely Nights”. ...

released this song in October 1977 as the third and final single from his album, ''First Class''. The song reached number 9 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart, and number 7 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.

Other cover versions

Other covers include: *

The Hollywood Flames The Hollywood Flames were an United States, American Rhythm and blues, R&B human voice, vocal group in the 1950s, best known for their No. 11 hit record, hit "Buzz-Buzz-Buzz" in 1957. Early years They formed as The Flames in 1949, in the Watts ...

released a version of the song as a single in 1958. *Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'N' Roll Trio (1957) *

Sam Cooke Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...

(1962) * B. B. King (1962) *

The Drifters The Drifters are an American pop and R&B/soul vocal group. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in 1959 and ...

(1965) *

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

(1973) *

Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American baritone singer. He released 61 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably the song " You'll Never Find Another Love like Min ...

(1992) *

Irma Thomas Irma Thomas ( Lee; born February 18, 1941) is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans". Thomas is a contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, but never experienced their level of commercial succ ...

(1992).

References

1951 songs 1951 singles 1956 singles 1958 singles 1959 singles Blues songs Songs written by Ahmet Ertegun Big Joe Turner songs Bobby Bland songs Little Richard songs Pat Boone songs The Hollywood Flames songs Atlantic Records singles Songs with lyrics by Doc Pomus {{1950s-single-stub