Echo And The Bunnymen › The Killing Moon Guitar Tab

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The Killing Moon Tab

Send "The Killing Moon" Ringtone to your Cell Phone

Bm Bm/A G (2x)
E------------7(h)9---
B---3-5/7----------/3
G-4------------------
D--------------------
A--------------------
E--------------------
Em/// Em/// C/// C///
E---------1-0---1-0----
B----------------------
G----------------------
D----------------------
A----------------------
E----------------------
Em
Under blue moon I saw you
C
So soon you'll take me
Em
Up in your arms to late to beg you
C
Or cancel it though I know it must be
Em
The killing time
C
Unwillingly mine
CHORUS:
G Cm G
Fate, up against your will
Cm G
Through the thick and thin
Cm G
He will wait until
Cm G Cm
You give yourself to him
Em/// Em/// C/// C///
Em
In starlit nights I saw you
C
So cruelly you kissed me
Em
Your lips a magic world
C
The sky all hung with jewels
Em
The killing moon
C
Will come too soon
REPEAT CHORUS & SOLO:
Bm Bm/A G
E-------------------------------------------
B-0-3-0-5-0-7-0-8-0-10-8-7-5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0-5
G-------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------
Bm Bm/A G
E----------------------------------------
B-0-3-0-5-0-7-0-8-0-10-8-7-8-0-8-0-8-0-8-
G----------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------
Bm Bm/A G
E----------------------------------------------
B-0-3-0-5-0-7-0-8-0-10-8-7-8/10-0-10-0-10-0-10-
G----------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------
Bm BM/A G
E----------------------------------------
B-0-3-0-5-0-7-0-8-0-10-8-7-3-0-3-0-3-0-3-
G----------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------
Em C
E----------------------
B-3-0----------3-0-----
G----2-------------2---
D------2-------------2-
A----------------------
E----------------------
REPEAT FIRST VERSE AND CHORUS TO FADE

The Killing Moon Tab

Send "The Killing Moon" Ringtone to your Cell Phone

Source: http://www.guitarmasta.net/e/echo_and_the_bunnymen/348678.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture Garrey Average	#1 by Garrey Adams at Sep 6, 1972 at 2:07 PM EST
	great intro

No Picture Josh Average	#2 by Josh Franco at Nov 7, 1973 at 3:02 PM EST
	definetly about death and murder

No Picture Bill Average	#3 by Bill Connor at Dec 27, 1974 at 1:30 PM EST
	Actually, Luxie, since just a little earlier the lyrics mention fate, I thought that the line "you give yourself to him" to be giving to fate.

No Picture ScumFucBondage Average	#4 by ScumFucBondage bumsex at Mar 13, 1975 at 10:48 PM EST
	I really don't know what this song means. But I do know that the beginning to this song is freaking incredible. One of the best intros to a song ever. It also fits in extremely well at the beginning of Donnie Darko. If I had to fathom a guess to the meaning, and from watching Donnie Darko the song is about how death is inevitable. Oh and Donnie Darko, is a cool movie.

No Picture joe Lead Player	#5 by joe something at May 29, 1980 at 8:47 PM EST
	this is one of my favrorite songs ever. its played at the beginning of a great movie, donnie darko. nothing better than the line "the killing moon will come too soon"

No Picture aleXeXeX Rhythm Player	#6 by aleXeXeX at Jul 26, 1984 at 4:09 PM EST
	Actually, according to Ian, the Killing Moon is about death "up in your arms to let to beg you or cancel it....." About fate up against your will. He says in Chris Adams new book "Torquoise Days: The Weird World of Echo and the Bunnymen" something to the effect that he always found it funny that people thought the Killing Moon was about two dudes kissing under a lamp post. No love song here people. Sorry to spoil it!

No Picture Michele Rhythm Player	#7 by Michele at Jan 30, 1985 at 5:36 AM EST
	I think that the "give yourself to him" line is actually referring to fate, since its mentioned only a few lines earlier.

No Picture GALLIEN Wanna Be	#8 by GALLIEN at Sep 18, 1988 at 2:30 PM EST
	Donnie Darko is the best fucking movie i've ever seen, all of the music in it is awesome, i didn't even know it was by these guys untill a couple days ago

No Picture spence Average	#9 by spence o'brien at Aug 30, 1994 at 1:33 PM EST
	Taylor, do you have difficulty in understanding the possibility that there may be one or two songs in existence that AREN'T about a guy and a girl getting together/breaking up? Does it strike you as psychologically possible that sometimes people are actually capable of expressing genuine originality in lyrical form? You must be accustomed to listening to Shitney Spears and the rest of the boob-fest 24/7, because you have no concept of art whatsoever. Anyway, I think the song is about predestination; how everything that occurs in our lives, particularly death-is innevitable. The singer is exppressing the futility of trying to deny the cosmic plan ("fate up against my will") and how no one ever escapes death ("the killing time"). This aspect of the song reminds me a little of "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, another extremely awesome song. The last line of the song ("you will give yourself to him") implies that our own actions will conspire against us to push us into our predestined fate; no matter what we do, we are trapped in a self-fulfilling prophecy. P.S: Donnie Darko is the best fucking movie ever made!

No Picture PalaNIN Wanna Be	#10 by PalaNIN at Aug 3, 2002 at 1:57 AM EST
	this song is about the moon becoming radioactive and killing everyone

No Picture josh Rhythm Player	#11 by josh groocock at Jul 21, 2003 at 8:04 PM EST
	in Donnie Darko when it says "killing time," that's when you see Frank's camaro drive by in the background...creepy

No Picture Marcus Rhythm Player	#12 by Marcus Moore at Nov 8, 2005 at 6:37 AM EST
	Its about death, how you have no control over it. I take the' give yourself to him' bit to be about giving yourself to god when you die. It fitted so well with Donnie Darko, especially when you think of what happened in the end.

No Picture Neal Average	#13 by Neal Chuenprateep at Aug 23, 2007 at 7:33 AM EST
	It's unbelievable how only few people have can give a good interpretation to this lyrics. Taylor, that's interesting but you went too far. tuvia, I agree with you. A sensible interpretation. I just wanted to reafirm it. This song is obviously about death. Not only about passing away, but about the death, as character (you may call it god, fate or, preferably, the KILLING MOON), taking people away. In this case, the singer. Many of you did talk about death, but nobody realized that the whole song is about it and there's no one else on scene: only the singer and death. "Under blue moon I saw you / so soon you'll take me". It's obvious that He saw the death coming to take him in its arms. Now it's too late to beg. He will die anyway: its his killing time. Doesn't it fit perfectly? The rest goes like that. He doesn't want to die, but fate acts against his will. "He will wait until you give yourself to him". It is talking about fate. That's the only part of the song which is not very clear for me because if fate acts against your will, you should die anyway. So, fate won't wait anything: will just take him away. It's a little contradiction of these lyrics, which doesn't affect this song's beauty.

No Picture jar0n Average	#14 by jar0n at Sep 28, 2007 at 10:11 AM EST
	i adore this song after finding it on an 80s compilation. i really like echo and the bunnymen. i just love the music, the way it creates an atmosphere and the words are just wow. whatever they really mean, they could mean anything.

No Picture shareef Average	#15 by shareef turner at Sep 28, 2007 at 5:30 PM EST
	Okae, this is my view of the song. I'm in this really messed up relationship right now and I can relate to this song. 'fate up against your will, through the thick and thin, he will wait untill you give yourself to him' - is just like the guy im going out with. He waited till I gave myself to him by fate, and now he's stretching me thin. Like the lyrics 'up in your arms too late to beg you or cancel it though I know it must be' which would be the way he took me in and i would beg him not to hurt me, and i know we have to break up even though I even hate the idea. 'The killing time unwillingly mine' would be the time that I have to break up with him, even though I majorly don't want to. but things could be better so.

No Picture Keith Wanna Be	#16 by Keith Pearson at Sep 30, 2007 at 8:51 PM EST
	this song is definitely about the moons radioactive quality and how one day it will murder us all in our sleep if the wearwolves dont get us first

No Picture sean Average	#17 by sean at Oct 1, 2007 at 4:43 PM EST
	this is a bit tangential... but have you all heard the version by the GOTHIC PRIESTESS EVA O? It is on the compilation AN 80'S cover album.... its pretty amazing... if you like this song and u like Eva..... I think the song meaning is quite open... not so specific.... tho clearly vears around the notions of death and doom...

No Picture austin Lead Player	#18 by austin at Oct 2, 2007 at 1:15 AM EST
	i read something Ian said that its about God disguised as a love song or something like that.

No Picture Jonny Rhythm Player	#19 by Jonny Rhoades at Oct 4, 2007 at 9:22 AM EST
	Um yeah, I just wanted to say that I noticed that in Donnie Darko, when Donnie passes Frank's car the song's on the line "Killing time"... which is just really kinda cool.