This song is set to an untempo, mandolin-heavy Country & Western melody, while featuring lyrics about a nasty breakup. It is one of the funny-but-sad songs that They Might Be Giants are known for.
A "ball & chain" is of course old slang for marriage, particularly from the man's point of view of being arrested from the life of the happy-go-lucky bachelor. A ball & chain, we have to explain these days, used to be fastened around the ankle of convicts to prevent them running off. This was especially common in prison work crews, who would have to be out in the open to do roadwork. Typically any work of fiction depicting a prisoner wearing black-and-white stripes will also show a ball & chain on one ankle.
We can't prove it in court, but if you listen to this song and then to the Darlene Love hit "Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry," (written by Phil Spector) you'll notice similarities including whole chucks of the tune lifted and the line "there goes the bride as she walked out the door" changed from "here comes the bride as he walked through the door." TMBG does this often in the spirit of homage.
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