Chain Gang

This song is about people being stuck where they are. Uniformity has basically taken over their lives. They could work really hard but they will still be right where they are. The singer uses chain gangs to get this message across because chain gangs were people grouped together by a chain. The all were equal and had to move together. They couldn't get anywhere if they couldn't move together. So he is saying that at the time society was like a chain gang. He was almost encouraging them to break away from the chain gang.