CHAIN MAIL

First released 1986

Having appeared under various titles such as Tin Can and Sea Shanty in radio sessions dating back to 1983, Chain Mail headed up the Sit Down - Three Songs by James EP which was the band's first release on Sire.  It also opens up the One Man Clapping live set and was another old track resurrected between 1992 and 1994 in acoustic form and brought back into the set as a regular on the 2007 reunion tour

WHERE TO GET

Single Version : Chain Mail 7" (JIM 3)

Single Version : Sit Down – Three Songs by James 12" (JIM 3T)

Single Version : Fresh As A Daisy - The Singles (2 disc version)

Live Version : One Man Clapping LP (ONE MAN 1 LP), CAS (ONE MAN 1 C), CD (ONE MAN 1 CD)

LYRICS

High voice, deep inside

Witness what you think you hide

I will race you through emotions 

If you let me in

I made an armour plated suit

You put your lips to helmet slits

Tried to suck me out the tin

I can't get out, I'm welded in 

Oh look at the chain mail and his bodyguard

Look at the chain mail and his shoddy bodyguard

Look at the chain mail and his bodyguard

Chain mail, chain mail, chain mail

High voice, deep inside

Witness what you think you hide

I will race you through emotions 

If you let me in

That body's naked as the mind

The bruises mark the site of blows

Inside my suit my body's fine

When I last looked it looked like mine 

I'd run away to pray for tears

Or sitting still to see

What lives behind at the back of the mind

When you have peeled the onion leaves

I'm going deeper and deeper in debt

Deeper and deeper in debt

Deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper in debt 

I'm not the only one in chains

I hear you creaking in the rain

Under pressure, under stress

I see you through your holy vest

That body's naked as the mind

When I last looked, it looked like mine

Oh look at the chain mail and his body guard

Look at the chain mail and his shoddy body guard

Look at the chain mail and his body guard

Chain mail

Chain mail

Chain mail

Chain mail 

I'd run away to pray for tears

And sitting still to see

What lives behind at the back of the mind

When you have swept away

When you have swept away

When you have swept away the leaves