Chords + Lyrics | The Drugs Don’t Work
Intro
| C Csus2 | C Csus2 | Am Asus2 | Am Asus2 |
| Em | Fadd9 G | C Csus2 | C Csus2 |
Verse 1
| C Csus2 | C G/B | Am Asus2 | Am Asus2 |
All this talk of getting old, it’s getting me down my love.
| Em | F/C G | C Csus2 | C Csus2 |
Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown, this time I’m comin’ down.
Verse 2
And I hope you’re thinking of me, as you lay down on your side.
Now the drugs don’t work, they just make you worse, but I know I’ll see your face again.
Chorus 1
| Em | Fsus2 G | C Csus2 | C Csus2 |
Now the drugs don’t work, they just make you worse, but I know I’ll see your face again.
Verse 3
But I know I’m on a losing streak, ’cause I passed down my old street.
And if you wanna show, then just let me know, and I’ll sing in your ear again.
Chorus 2
Now the drugs don’t work, they just make you worse, but I know I’ll see your face again.
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
All this talk of getting old, it’s getting me down my love.
Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown, this time I’m comin’ down.
Chorus 3
Now the drugs don’t work, they just make you worse, but I know I’ll see your face again.
Bridge 2
‘Cause baby, ooh, if heaven calls, I’m coming, too.
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 :||
||: Yeah, I know I’ll see your face again, oh Lord :||
||: I’m never going down, I’m never coming down, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more :||
The Drugs Don’t Work Chords: Unlocking the Simplicity Behind the Song’s Structure
Using almost only open-position chords and staying in the key of C with no chords going outside, Richard Ashcroft has managed to write a song that sounds unique.
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 looking beyond the seemingly impossible shape.
Most of the time, we get there by not fretting and playing all the strings. For example, an F/C will work well enough as a substitute for the big and clunky F (members get video lessons going through this in great detail).
In order to understand The Drugs Don’t Work‘s chord progressions, we must look at them using Roman numerals. Here are the intro, verse, and chorus chords:
| C (I) | C | Am (VI) | Am |
| Em (III) | F (IV) G (V) | C (I) | C |
These simple chords are manipulated using extensions such as sus2 and add9. I demonstrate exactly how in the course and then give you a loop with rhythm slashes to play along with for each section.
Once you can play all the loops, a simple chord chart is a good reminder of how to play The Drugs Don’t Work‘s chords. Here’s one I made for you.
The Drugs Don’t Work Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
If you compare the chords in this chart to the chords and lyrics above, you’ll notice how I have simplified it somewhat.
For example, the way the F chord is varied between F, F/C, Fsus2, and Fadd9 isn’t perfectly explained in the chart.
The reason for this is that a chart needs to be easy to read and primarily serve as a reminder.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: The Drugs Don’t Work chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro. Here’s a link to that file: The Drugs Don’t Work iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
In the course, we go deep into what to play for every single bar using a complex, note-for-note transcription of both the main guitar and the second guitar. I even modified some parts because we don’t have a full band.
Below, you’ll find a preview of this.
The Drugs Don’t Work Strumming | Course Preview
During the Beginner Acoustic Course, we practise The Drugs Don’t Work in great depth using strumming notation rather than TAB.
This is a fantastic reading exercise—try it out right now with the loop above.
Here are the rhythm slashes for the first verse, or as I call it in the course, example 1.
By working through the song in small sections like this, we eventually play the complete track with a singer (see the video above).
Lastly, we learn the beautiful second guitar part, just like the original, using strumming notation and play-along loops. Once you’ve mastered this, you, me, and the singer can play The Drugs Don’t Work together, like a trio.
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: The Drugs Don’t Work – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
It’s not about illegal drugs
The Drugs Don’t Work has reached a massive global audience, partly helped by Ben Harper, who covered it on his Live From Mars album in 2001, but mainly as a single from The Verve’s best-selling Urban Hymns (1997).
As the title suggests, many people might assume this is an anti-drug song, which it is—but not in the way we might have been led to believe.
Originally, the song’s meaning was about Richard Ashcroft’s father, who was dying of cancer, and how the drugs didn’t work for him. However, the song’s lyrics were tweaked slightly to create a more ambiguous message.
The Drugs Don’t Work was one of three massive hits (including Bitter Sweet Symphony and Lucky Man) that marked The Verve’s transition from a critically acclaimed but relatively unknown indie/rock band to mass-market fame in 1998.
Interestingly, the band had actually split up before recording Urban Hymns, which was their third album. Fortunately, Ashcroft managed to recruit an old friend, Simon Tong, and eventually convinced guitarist Nick McCabe to return to the studio, completing the album.
It’s Nick who wrote and played the brilliant second guitar part. It took me several days to transcribe it, and you can hear/see me play it in the playlist at the top of the page.
In the course, you’ll get the chance to play the second guitar with me and the singer. It won’t be easy, but you’ll learn so much from doing it.
The Drugs Don’t Work Chords: Continue Learning
Playing The Drugs Don’t Work just like Richard did is not easy—there is so much variation in the strumming. To get it right, we first work on reading rhythms.
Following this, we study each section in depth using play-along loops before we play the complete song. Finally, we learn the beautiful second guitar as well.
Start learning with the full lesson series: The Drugs Don’t Work – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy:
