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“Take These Chains From My Heart” was one of the
last songs recorded by Hank Williams. The song was
written by Fred Rose and Hy Heath. After Hank’s
death and the record became a hit, rumor
circulated that Hank had showed the song to Fred
Rose who rewrote it and took Hank’s name off the
song after Hank’s death. But those who knew Fred
Rose argued that Rose was not the kind of person
to do that and would never have stolen from Hank
Williams or anyone else.
A
lot of radio stations played “Take These Chains
From My Heart” as a final tribute to Hank
Williams.
The
MGM single entered the country music charts May 16th,
1953 and made it to number one, where it stayed
for four weeks. It was Hank’s 36th
charted song and his last number one. It was on
the charts for 13 weeks.
Doug Davis
Country Music Classics
(The idea that Fred Rose
took Hank Williams’ name off of this song and
replaced it with his own is absolutely ridiculous.
I knew Fred Rose in the Fifties when I wrote songs
for Acuff-Rose Publishing Co. and recorded for
Columbia Records. He sometimes suggested a word,
phrase, or sentence change in some of my songs, as
he had done with other writers, but he always
refused to have his name placed as one of the
writers. Fred Rose told me as a fact, that he had
changed several of Hank’s songs without claiming
authorship. Fred died on December 1, 1954, and
when he passed I lost a dear friend. – Dusty
Owens, TCM Radio News)
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