Wilco › Hell Is Chrome Guitar Tab

"A Ghost Is Born" (EP) Tabs:

#-----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE------------------------------#
#  This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation    #
#  of the song. The owner of this website has not reviewed the contents of   #
#  this file. If you feel that the content of this file may be violating     #
#  copyright law, you may not use the information displayed here in any way. #
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------#

Send "Hell Is Chrome" Ringtone to your Cell Phone

WILCO - Hell is Chrome 
(from the album 'a ghost is born' 2004)
by idna

Dm
When the devil came
	  Am
He was not red
Bb	F	     Bb
He was chrome and he said

F	  Bb	
Come with me
Dm
You must go
Am
So I went
Bb	 F	     Bb
Where everything was clean
F	  	Bb	
So precise and towering

I was welcomed
With open arms
I received so much help in every way
I felt no fear
I felt no fear

The air was crisp
Like sunny late winter days
A springtime yawning high in the haze
And I felt like I belonged
Come with me

Brought to you by the GUITARMASTA - http://www.guitarmasta.net

Send "Hell Is Chrome" Ringtone to your Cell Phone

Source: http://www.guitarmasta.net/w/wilco/327652.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture Alex Wanna Be	#1 by Alex Jurek at May 4, 1970 at 2:01 AM EST
	also, the first time i heard this record, i heard "at least that's what you said" then this song and i was like wow, maybe wilco finally made a truly timeless awesome record. and then was terribly, terribly disappointed with about 2/3 of the other songs. oh well.

No Picture MetJustice Wanna Be	#2 by MetJustice at Aug 5, 1976 at 3:13 PM EST
	ps. the album rocks. all of it. period. they just went in a new direction. that whys i love wilco, they arent afraid of change.

No Picture Kenny Lead Player	#3 by Kenny Berg at May 15, 1977 at 1:09 AM EST
	i took this song simply to mean that the devil/evil things can show up unexpected. when you think devil you picture a man in a red suit with a black mustache, but really he could be disguised working through a co-worker, cousin, teacher, anything. and he will lure you in kindly "I was welcomed With open arms" but be careful so you don't get caught up in his trap.

No Picture caleb Wanna Be	#4 by caleb at Sep 20, 1978 at 5:18 AM EST
	“Hell is Chrome” and “Theologians” definitely go together. Hell is “chrome” because it is fake and shiny. It is seductive, but cheap. It covers what’s real, with the patina of something expensive, but it’s really just crap. I think the song is about American culture. The lyric, “You must go” is vaguely threatening, or coercive. We are all seduced by the chrome, and if we don’t take part, we’re “weird,” we’re left out. But if we give in to the chrome – if we buy that fancy car, or expensive clothes, whatever -- we are seen as successful, and we find acceptance (“I was welcomed with open arms”). It’s the easy way out – the devil is seductive, but it’s also a trap. “Theologians,” by contrast, is about not giving in. It’s about integrity, free will and rebirth. (“No one’s ever gonna take my life from me/I lay it down/ A ghost is born … I’m a cherry ghost.”) I doubt Tweedy was thinking about this, but I’ll note that the Greek word “chromos” means color. So if you look under the chrome – or, in this case, look past what we think of “chrome” to its etymological roots -- we find color. The “cherry ghost” is what’s real. Cherry rhymes with “merry,” and clearly “Theologians” is about finding what’s good inside you, what’s real – your soul. And you find it by disregarding what the culture or the authorities (the “theologians” = “devil”) are trying to tell you is real. Note the gospel rave-up chorus on “Hell is Chrome” -- “come with me/come with me.” It’s like being in church, isn’t it? But don’t let it fool you. The theologians don’t know nothing about (your) soul.

No Picture Wacko Average	#5 by Wacko Jacko at Jan 31, 1980 at 5:45 AM EST
	i have to say i'm not sure if i agree with the drug interpretation. also, tweedy quit drugs. it might be about that, now that i think about it. maybe, it's pretty vague, could be about anything.

No Picture Flappy Average	#6 by Flappy Bob at Nov 16, 1981 at 3:53 PM EST
	It's easy for people to think that the devil is some sort of evil red...thing, for lack of a better word. I was actually reading today in the magazine Charisma + Christian Life where some woman berated the editors for portraying Satan on their cover as a demonic, ugly creature; if he's obviously evil, she reasoned, then no one will be lured to him. Makes sense to me. I think that this is what Tweedy sings about here. We commonly perceive Satan/sin/evil as being these ugly, obvious things, but they're not. It's what we're attracted to: shiny, towering, precise, neat. If it were ugly, we'd stay away, you know? And that's the point. Temptation is simple, it's easy, it feels good. We "receive so much help [...] feel welcomed in every way." As everyone else has pointed out, Jeff was kicking painkillers when he wrote AGIB, and I think that "Hell is Chrome" is showing us all exactly what hell is. His painkillers helped him, etc, but they were ultimately Hell. Sin may feel good, Satan may help you with something, but you shouldn't confuse yourself and think it's something that it's not.

No Picture Mr. Always Mezm Average	#7 by Mr. Always Mezmerized (o)(o) at Aug 30, 1982 at 7:28 PM EST
	I also wonder about the color symbolism between the songs. If uncaring cities are chrome and the devil is also chrome and not red, then the red color is NOT the color of the devil, so when he becomes "a cherry [red] ghost" in "Theologians", he is not evil, amoral, or unfeeling, he is something else. The only other red on the album is on "Less Than You Think", where "red plastic mouths" are mentioned, and it seems to me that these are a reference to prostitution or something figuratively like it, so that's why he's a "cherry ghost" instead of a red ghost--the color symbols would get mixed up. Basically the red color symbolism enhances the trancendentalism of "Theologians" and the innocence of "Hell is Chrome".

No Picture The Four String Lead Player	#8 by The Four String Mother Fucker at Mar 18, 1983 at 9:09 AM EST
	Tweedy had the whole drug rehab thing at the time of recording this album. I recon: Hell & Chrome = "Hospital" Devil = Someone who confronted him about his problem and tried to help him... --> Where everything was clean So precise and towering --> This describes the clinical environment he spent his recovering days, and he felt like he belonged...

No Picture J_ROC Lead Player	#9 by J_ROC at Mar 28, 1985 at 8:40 PM EST
	I know a lot of songs can be about drugs, but this one really seems to me like it is. Just like the peer pressure to doing it and then how he 'felt no fear' and everything. idk, maybe its just me... Plus I heard Tweedy's big on the drug intake.

No Picture Ĵǿ Wanna Be	#10 by Ĵǿħŋ Ĝęřđěŋĭţš at Jun 1, 1985 at 2:03 AM EST
	I think the 'high in the haze' part is the interpretive lynchpin of this song. On the figurative level, I want to think that the haze is drug induced. On the literal, it, of course, goes along with the stifling, dirty-city image that's portrayed in Hummingbird.

No Picture Frank Wanna Be	#11 by Frank at May 4, 1986 at 9:36 PM EST
	I interpret this song as a just a mind altering take on hell. Maybe Jeff was just playing with the idea of hell not being so bad. Maybe he is just messing with our ideologies. Chrome is interesting because I believe the Amish are not allowed to have chrome on anything. They believe it is a sign of vanity and sinful. I'm not Amish so correct me if I'm wrong.

No Picture Tom Average	#12 by Tom Gregory at May 6, 1987 at 10:03 PM EST
	I was thinking that Tweedy is relating the devil and hell to a needle for drugs cause nbeedles are the color of chrome . "When the devil came, he was not red. He was chrome and he said 'Come with me.'" Meaning he didnt expect the drugs to take over his life like they did because at first they feel so good and welcoming.

No Picture birdman Average	#13 by birdman ethdh at Oct 13, 1987 at 10:25 PM EST
	pix101...I think you maybe hit the nail on the head. This song does have that sound of a prescription drug user being led to what he previously thought was the devil: a rehab hospital. "Chrome is hell" totally. I dislike hospitals for the same reason, so squeaky clean, stainless steel...bluggghhh. Maybe that's my "beef" against Chipotle restaurants... Life is messy...dig in :)

No Picture logan Average	#14 by logan cook at Aug 19, 1988 at 6:23 PM EST
	To me this song is about the record labels and how misleading everything can be when an artist first gets into a record deal. The devil being an executive in a suit, hence the chrome reference. Clean and neat looking. He went where everything is clean and towering to the top of one of the big buildings these companies are in. They helped him in every way and made him felt like he belonged there. Made him feel no fear. I just always took it as a reference going back to the Reprise dropping, but to each his own.

No Picture phoen Average	#15 by phoen bay at Feb 25, 1989 at 12:17 AM EST
	I first was looking at the lyrics to "Theologians" when I realized that the "standing still in the past" ties well to being "a notion, all emotion". So I went over to the lyrics of "Hummingbird" and found the "deep chrome canyons of the loudest Manhattans" where "no one could hear him" (i.e. he was unnoticed, lost in the crowd) parallelled "Hell is Chrome". in "Hell is Chrome" the devil (who is not red, he is chrome) takes him "where everything was clean/so precise and towering"--obviously a city. However, when he gets there he "was welcomed with open arms/ [he] received so much help in every way / [he] felt no fear / the air was crisp / like sunny late-winter days / springtime yawining high in the haze / and I felt like I belong"--so he fits in and people notice and care about him. However, notice who took him there. He is WITH THE DEVIL when all these people welcome him and help him. So basically the two songs are meant to be looked at together (possibly along with "Theologians" but the connections are a little fuzzier). He goes to a city and is forgotten, but later goes with the devil (perhaps a record company exec like cherryghost41 said, or any other powerful yet amoral person) and he is a celebrity, he is noticed, he is important, he "felt like [he] belong[s]". I think it's maybe an indictment of society for not caring about people when they aren't famous or powerful. The famous and powerful aren't perfect either ("Spiders (Kidsmoke)"). The poetry here blows me away.

No Picture Dale :D Average	#16 by Dale :D O' Mondo Of DOOM!!! at Mar 29, 1990 at 2:42 AM EST
	I definitely agree with BRU149. Hell is "chrome" meaning that evil sometimes could be very inviting and pretty. The devil is just seducing him to do something "bad". I can also understand what GHO4LYFE was saying about how it has to do with drugs because it's almost like in general that this song is about the devil luring him into doing something that is bad (could be drugs) by making look so good or feel so good.

No Picture danielle Lead Player	#17 by danielle woodley at May 7, 1990 at 1:03 PM EST
	ive listened to this song alot and the whole album and all that, and i just put my own meaning in this song, the thing is that the lyrics arent really sad or depressing or anything, but the tone of the song is. the lyrics now mean to me my transition into college (its now my second year) but i came here and was accepted with the openest of arms and its like apradise here, and today it is a sunny late winter day, and it just got me thinking....

No Picture PJVILL Professional Badass	#18 by PJVILL at Jan 10, 1991 at 10:26 PM EST
	I didnt read all the comments, but what feeling I got from it, was being in a hospital maybe, like getting treated and the people he thought might hurt him was actually more caring then he thought, like a doctor or something. I'm not sure. But its how I felt when I had to go to the hospital for my depression.

No Picture Toni Average	#19 by Toni at Jan 10, 1997 at 7:39 AM EST
	"i was like wow, maybe wilco finally made a truly timeless awesome record" AKA YHF? I do agree that much of the rest of this album was a disappointment,

No Picture Angus Rhythm Player	#20 by Angus Young at Oct 5, 1998 at 5:00 PM EST
	i can see the whole drug part Hell is chrome, so yeah like a rehab center sort of deal, and the when the devil comes and tells him he must go it is like he needs to face his demons (drugs) and when he does this (rehab and gets over drugs) he is in a much better place where people wlecome him with open arms, and it was so much better, "come with me" is like a call for him to kick the drug addictions

No Picture Christian Wanna Be	#21 by Christian Chavez at Sep 6, 2005 at 6:39 PM EST
	this sort of reminds me of myself...finding love and comfort in the people and places anyone would truly least expect. this guy found acceptance in hell. noone does, usually... i found love in a teacher i can never tell. i find comfort in dark closed spaces... i find truth in the very ugliest of hearts. ofcourse i find everything that needs to be found in the people and places and truths noone ever wants to look.