*Wilco*
*Handshake Drugs*
*A Ghost Is Born*
Intro: D - G - F
D
I was chewing gum for something to do
G F
The blinds were being pulled down on the dew
D
Inside out of love, what a laugh
G F
I was looking for you
D
The saxophones started blowing me down
G
I was buried in sound
F D
And taxi cabs were driving me around
G F
To the handshake drugs I bought downtown
They were translating poorly
I felt like a clown
I looked like someone I used to know
I felt alright
And if I ever was myself
I wasn't that night
It's ok for you to say what you want from me
I believe that's the only way for me to be
Exactly what you want me to be
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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Troy Wanna Be |
#1 by Troy Erskine at Oct 18, 1970 at 3:25 PM EST |
| I'm not sure that Wilco has always been "above [the drugs]" like NorthWriter said above. In "I am trying to break your heart" the documentary Tweedy and Bennett are discussing wasting money. Tweedy says something like I've wasted my money on better things, and Bennett adds in something about -like all the blow we got in Germany(...or some European country/city)?- | |
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Darren Wanna Be |
#2 by Darren Pilton at Oct 25, 1972 at 12:58 PM EST |
| You can get high and be happy by communicating and being around other people. And when you get lost in a world of drugs and fake smiles, you aren't yourself; you have a false identity. | |
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*evan* Average |
#3 by *evan* at Jun 19, 1974 at 11:06 PM EST |
| I,m not sure handshake drugs are medication. It refers to the passing of money and drugs in a handshake fashion as to not draw attention to the fact your selling drugs. I think this is one drug user who wants to stay a drug user. He wants to be what the girl wants but feels like a clown and not himself. She continues to try to change him and soon he can't figure out what she wants him to be. | |
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bethan Average |
#4 by bethan jones at Jan 29, 1976 at 1:27 AM EST |
| I gotta say I kind of agree with Molesworth. To me this song is like when I go out with no plans and no knowledge of what I'll do or who I'll see. Quite often I do just end up buying some drugs and doing that. It doesn't fit with the entire song but it fits with the very beginning. More accurately, this is like my saturday (yesterday) where I was feeling like shit about the relationship I'm in at the moment and for some reason I was looking round town for my girlfirend (Out of love, what a laugh, I was looking for you) - it's a pretty ridiculous thing to do, and that line sums it up for me. The rest of the song is kind of what I was thinking I would say to her if I did see her. It's tenuous, and almost certainly not what it's about, but it kind of has that feel for me. | |
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massie Professional Badass |
#5 by massie at May 10, 1991 at 12:06 AM EST |
| This song is not about buying drugs, or Tweedy's addiction to painkillers while writing/recording this album. Tweedy himself has said that he just liked the idea of "handshake drugs", so he wrote a song about it. He seems to have given meaning to his sister, but the song isn't very personal on a drug-based level. | |
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jimmy Wanna Be |
#6 by jimmy henry at May 20, 1992 at 5:02 AM EST |
| This song is not about taking drugs to be someone else. The singer of the band, Jeff Tweedy had to go on medication because of a condition he has. This song, and most of the album, is about him taking this medication. My favorite line of the song "and if I ever was myself, I wasn't that night" just goes to say how he wasn't himself on that medication. | |
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Jeremy Average |
#7 by Jeremy Rees at Feb 21, 1997 at 7:29 AM EST |
| "They were translated poorly, I felt like a clown I looked like someone I used to know I felt alright And if I ever was myself I wasn't that night" A lot of different meanings in this song it appears. | |
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bogex Rhythm Player |
#8 by bogex luna at Jun 1, 1999 at 12:05 PM EST |
| During a concert, Jeff Tweedy once dedicated this song to his sister. I think that alot of times people automatically assume that the "woman" must be his lover, when infact his sister and his deceased mother have had a great impact on him. I think that he's been married to the same woman for several years. Also, he was definitely abusing prescription drugs. Chronic migraines and other chronic pain. So he could have been buying them as well as some illegal substances. | |
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Marcus19 Rhythm Player |
#9 by Marcus19 Doug at Jan 2, 2003 at 7:51 AM EST |
| it's funny cuz everything that this song says is sorta against how i feel...about his problem with drugs and how he only wants to change himself for this woman (i hate phoniness)...and yet i love it anyway! that's the beauty with music...even the lyrics strike me..as stuff i don't wanna do...and yet i'm so moved...by his voice, the lyrics, the collaboration of instruments...there are no words to explain the depth of genius in this band! and yet...something just struck me...perhaps he wants to change positively for this woman...like give up those nasty drugs!! that would be something beautiful to see...but his tone declares that it'll never happen...and he's not good enough...or feels not good enough..."exactly what do you want me to be?!" | |
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nick Professional |
#10 by nick Sutliff at Oct 3, 2007 at 9:58 AM EST |
| Here's my theory. I believe this song like many of Wilco's songs sticks with the themes of co-dependence in both relationships and addiction. Tweedy, unlike many rock songwriters, comes from a nuclear family and has been able to sustain a nuclear family (married to the same woman, had kids) of his own. He has done this while negotiating the lure of addiction in a variety of forms (cigarettes, booze, drugs, probably art and now apparently he's a workout freak). This song pits his two compulsions, his family and his addictions against each other. That's why he is "inside out of love." He is conscious of the effect that his need to satisfy his physical loves (the addictions and artistic passions) have on the emotional love he has for his wife and family. He is conscious of how, in this case, drugs, make him feel and act like a clown. However, he doesn't know how to harmonize his twin passions and let's face it, they are both necessary to Jeff's ability to create great art. So he asks his wife what she wants from him. He knows she just wants him to stop with his compulsions but those compulsions are him and he won't stop being who he is. I think the feedback that sounds like radio static at the end of the track is the real interesting part of the song. The simple melody (D-G-F) collapses but continues under the feedback and distortion. I think the melody is love, or soul or whatever you want to call it and the noise is the chaos that is created when one tries to be true to oneself while trying to love your wife and family. That's I think what makes Jeff different from a lot of other guys. He's not Lou Reed or Kurt Cobain. He's not battling homosexual urges or reeling from a childhood in a broken home or a total misfit. He's more of a regular joe facing killer addictive urges and it becomes even more difficult and scary when you fight those urges and you can't say "well I was born gay or I come from a broken home." You have to just blame yourself. | |
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Avinash Average |
#11 by Avinash Dutta at Oct 10, 2007 at 12:37 PM EST |
| This is a song that so utterly exemplifies how i feel sometimes, when walking in the city, when really knowing what a loose end is, when just looking for something for something or someone to do. Mostly it means for me the achingly long summer holidays when London is gorgeous and I'm when i can go for weeks without rearing a sober head. Its that lethergy of sun bleached bones, its exactly not having washed behind your ears. | |
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Mistress Cheyen Rhythm Player |
#12 by Mistress Cheyenne at Oct 15, 2007 at 12:35 AM EST |
| Jeff also suffers, oddly enough, from a social anxiety disorder. If you've ever watched the movie "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," you've seen how out of his element he is when doing those "meet and greet" things after his shows. So after listening to this song over and over, I think it's about whatever drugs you take for that. "Handshake drugs" because they put him at ease enough to go out and meet the people after the shows. "I felt alright. But if I ever was myself, I wasn't that night," could refer to his feeling good (not anxious) on the drugs, but not feeling like the true Jeff Tweedy. The line about "It's okay for you to say what you want from me, that's the only way for me to be exactly what you want me to be" I think is a line from him to his fans, but also to people in the industry (magazine writers, record label people), because in a way, feedback that he gets from them shapes what he does next, musically speaking. Just my thoughts. I think it's more personal than some people think, but where drugs are concerned, it's not about anything illegal. Wilco seems to be above that, knowing that getting messed up in drugs will have a negative effect on what they're trying to do. | |
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quinn almann ' Wanna Be |
#13 by quinn almann ' jk carson at Oct 19, 2007 at 3:13 AM EST |
| This song is not about taking drugs to be someone else. The singer of the band, Jeff Tweedy had to go on medication because of a condition he has. This song, and most of the album, is about him taking this medication. My favorite line of the song "and if I ever was myself, I wasn't that night" just goes to say how he wasn't himself on that medication. | |
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