Acoustic Songs, Beginner Acoustic, Song Book

The Drugs Don’t Work chords by The Verve

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The Drugs Don’t Work | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

Verse 1

Verse 2

Chorus 1

Verse 3

Chorus 2

Bridge 1

| F | Em | Am | G |
Cause baby, ooh, if heaven calls, I’m coming too.
| F/C | Em | Am | G |
Just like you said, you leave my life, I’m better off dead.

Verse 4

Chorus 3

Bridge 2

| F | Em | Am | G |
‘Cause baby, ooh, if heaven calls, I’m coming, too.
| F/C | Em | Am | G |
Just like you said, you leave my life, I’m better off dead.

Chorus 4

| Em | F/C G | C Csus2 | C Csus2 |
But if you wanna show, just let me know, and I’ll sing in your ear again.
| Em | F/C G | C Csus2 | C |
Now the drugs don’t work, they just make you worse, but I know I’ll see your face again.

Outro

||: C Csus2 :||
||: Yeah, I know I’ll see your face again :||

||: C Csus2 :||
||: Yeah, I know I’ll see your face again, oh Lord :||

||: C Csus2 :||
I’m never going down, I’m never coming down, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more.
I’m never coming down, I’m never going down, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more.

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You can learn how to play The Drugs Don’t Work!

Using almost only open-position chords, staying in one key with no variations, Richard Ashcroft has managed to write a song that sounds unique.

Don’t be fooled, to write a song having mainly simple open-position chords doesn’t mean it’s easy!

If you are a beginner, The Drugs Don’t Work’s chords only have one difficult chord to fret, the mighty F.

You don’t have to play this as a big and painful barre chord, instead, it’s about finding a way to play that F and look beyond the seemingly impossible shape.

Most of the time, we get there by not fretting and playing all strings. For example, an F/C will work well enough as a substitute for the big and clunky F.

The chords from The Drugs Don’t Work are all from the key of C, no variations are used.

In order to understand the song, we should always look at the chord progresisons as Roman numerals. Here’s the intro, verse, chorus chords, in the key of C.

| I | I | VI | VI | III | IV V | I | I |
or
| C | C | Am | Am | Em | F G | C | C |

Strum through Drugs Don’t Work’s chords above using the chords and lyrics as well as the video of me and the singer, or the original if you prefer! Aim to hear and name each chord as a number.

Don’t worry about the strumming pattern, just focus on hearing each chord as a Roman numeral.

The Drugs Don’t Work is not about illegal drugs!

The Drugs Don’t Work has had a massive reach globally. Partly helped by Ben Harper who covered it on his Live From Mars album, but mainly as a single from The Verve’s best-seller Urban Hymns.

As the title indicates, most of us would have thought this was an anti-drug song, which it is, but not in the way we may have all been led to believe.

Originally having the meaning that the drugs didn’t work for Richard Ashcroft’s father, who was dying of cancer, the song had its wording slightly tweaked in order to give off a more ambiguous statement.

Being one of three massive hits (including Bitter Sweet Symphony and Lucky Man) from the album Urban Hymns in 1997, The Verve crossed over from, critically acclaimed but relatively unknown indie/rock band, to mass-market fame in 1998.

Interestingly enough, the band had actually split up prior to the making of Urban Hymns which was their third record.

Luckily, Ashcroft managed to recruit an old friend in Simon Tong and eventually lure guitarist Nick McCabe back into the studio and got the album finished.

The Drugs Don’t Work’s 8 guitar lessons in the course

Playing the main part just like Richard did is not easy, there is so much variation in the strumming. To get it right, we must first work on our ability to read rhythms.

Following this, we study each section in depth using play-along loops before we attempt the complete song. Finally, we learn the beautiful 2nd guitar as well.

In total, there are 8 step-by-step lessons for The Drugs Don’t Work available. Here are links to each lesson in the course (members only):

The Drugs Don’t Work chords | Related Pages

Five similar tunes

When you can play The Drugs Don't Work's chords, try these five tunes from the song book.

Ben Harper

Ben Harper is an American roots musician who stretched his appeal around the globe by recording covers of Sexual Healing and The Drugs Don’t Work.

Harper’s first album, Welcome To The Cruel World (94), was followed by Fight For Your Mind only a year later.

Ben Harper tunes.

Ben Harper on the web

The Verve

The Verve is a British rock band formed in 1989, in Wigan. Among their bigger hits, you’ll find Bitter Sweet Symphony and The Drugs Don’t Work.

Since their first debut album, A Storm In Heaven, critics have always favored The Verve as one of the best 90s British rock acts.

The Verve tunes.

The Verve on the web

Beginner Acoustic Songs

This collection of songs will teach you how to arrange a song to play on your own, as well as how to create a supporting part.

Playing songs will help you with switching between open-position chords and give you the context you need in order to understand how music works theoretically.

Beginner Acoustic Songs.