Things Behind The Sun Guitar Tab

Pink Moon Tabs:

Pink Moon
Road
Horn
Things Behind The Sun »
Know

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Here's an easy way to play this song in standard tuning.
Things behind the sun - Nick Drake
Album - Pink moon
tabbed by spence
delajeep@hotmail.com

Intro and first theme:

E ----1---|----1---|----0---|----0---|----0---|----0---|----0---|----0---|
B ----3---|----3---|----2---|----2---|----1---|----1---|----2---|----2---|
G ----2---|----2---|----2---|----2---|----0---|----0---|----2---|----2---|
D 0-0-----|0-0--0h2|----0---|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
A --------|--------|0-0-----|0-0---0-|1-1-----|1-1--1h3|0-0-----|0-0-----|
E --------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|

  Dm       Dm        A        A        C/Bb     C/Bb      A        A

Dm
Please beware of them that stare
A
they'll only smile to see you while
C/Bb
your time away
A

And once you've seen what they have been
to win the earth just won't seem worth
your night or your day

who'll hear what I say	(repeat C/Bb and A)

Look around you find the ground
is not so far from where you are
but don't too wise

For down below they never grow
they're always tired and charms are hired
from out of their eyes

never surprise

theme two:

E ----2---|----3----|----2---|--3-----|----0---|----0---|----0---|----0---|
B ----3---|----3----|----3---|--3-----|----1---|----1---|----2---|----2---|
G ----2---|----2----|----2---|--2-----|----0---|----0---|----0---|----0---|
D 0-0-----|0-0------|0-0-----|0---0---|--------|--------|--------|--------|
A --------|---------|--------|------0-|1-1-----|1-1--1h3|0-0-----|0-0-----|
E --------|---------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|

  D        Dsus4     D        Dsus4    C/Bb     C/Bb     A        A

D                  Dsus4
Take your time and you'll be fine
D                Dsus4
And say a prayer for people there
C/Bb
who live on the floor
A

And it you see what's meant to be
Don't name the day or try to say
it happened before

(i skipped the instrumental)

Theme one:

Don't be shy you'll learn to fly
and see the sun when day is done
if only you see

Just what you are beneath the star
that came to stay one rainy day
in autumn for free

yes, be what you'll be

Please beware of them that stare
they'll only smile to see you while
your time away

And once you've seen what they have been
to win the earth just won't seem worth
your night or your day

who'll hear what I say

Theme two:

Open up the broken cup
let goodly sin and sunshine in
yes that's today

And open wide the hymns you hide
you find reknown while people frown
at things that you say

Theme three:

Previous picking on chords C/Bb and A:

C/Bb             A
but say what you say
C/Bb                      A
About the farmers and the fun
C/Bb                      A    (etc.)
And the things behind the sun
And the people in your head
who say everything's been said
And the movement in your brain
sends you out into the rain


E ----2---|----3----|----7---|5-------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
B ----3---|----3----|----8---|7-------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
G ----2---|----2----|----7---|7-------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
D 0-0-----|0-0------|0-0-0---|0-------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
A --------|---------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
E --------|---------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|

  D        Dsus4     G/D      A

Remember, this is my  way, not Nick's.  He was insane.

Source: GuitarMasta.net
http://www.guitarmasta.net/n/nick_drake/.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture $~Andrew~$ Average	#1 by $~Andrew~$ at Mar 14, 2006 at 7:10 AM EST
	...so I think it's about depression and the difference in thinking such as that explained in Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

No Picture justin Average	#2 by justin tompkins at Apr 3, 2006 at 8:28 AM EST
	one of my favorites of nick's. legends never die.

No Picture Francesco Lead Player	#3 by Francesco DeVito at Apr 11, 2006 at 8:54 AM EST
	I never really got my head around what Nick was trying to say with this song, but that sounds very plausible. It reminds me of a song by Elliott Smith on the same theme, Between the Bars. It's a little more downbeat than this but a great song nonetheless.

No Picture bogex Rhythm Player	#4 by bogex luna at May 4, 2006 at 9:08 PM EST
	Not much to say about the lyrics, this song is just beautiful. I can definitely see it being about depression.

No Picture alex Average	#5 by alex at Jun 15, 2006 at 10:53 PM EST
	I am getting a distinctly different picture from this song. It seems to me he is saying beware of right brain dominant males as a left brain dominant male(nick). They want him to entertain him and spend his time giving them attention, but ends up cynical because he is giving without getting anything in return. He is also saying that while they focus on the external world that they won't grow internally (for down below, they'll never grow). Next couple of verse's are giving hope to the LBDM(usually focussed internally) about coming into the external. Last verse and a general theme is the duality of people...how they possibly frown at his verbalisation of something while secretly thinking or acting the opposite.

No Picture connor Average	#6 by connor gooley at Sep 15, 2006 at 5:02 PM EST
	First of all - if anyone would ever ask me to make a list of the best 10 songs ever - I would list this one. It's so beautiful - that when I heard for the first time - while i was driving, I had to pull over and almost cried. It's so so very beautiful - it just rips my heart out each time I listen to it. So powerful. As for what it means to me - I think it's about the phoenix rising. The possibility of emerging strong and beautiful from the pits of despair. It describes the lowest of the low - paranoid feeling (beware! people stare) - death and morbidity ("Look around you find the ground is not so far from where you are ") and all this is mixed with the highest of emotions - a magical enlightened happening ("Don't be shy you learn to fly and see the sun when day is done ").

No Picture kyle Professional	#7 by kyle mcdonough at Oct 16, 2006 at 7:05 PM EST
	i believe this song is primarily about alienation. nick never really fit in, for the most part, but it was as much by choice as for any other reason, as he never really felt understood. he chose, instead, to observe the world more as an outsider; and it seems to me that he felt he was looking down at it all, though not necessarily feeling superior to it. it also seems he might have felt that most people couldn't see the forest for the trees, but that he was perhaps able to see things that others weren't... Take your time and you'll be fine and say a prayer for people there who live on the floor and if you see what's meant to be, don't name the day or try to say, "It happened before." although he assumed no one would really listen, he spoke through his music. it's often said that no one really knew nick, but i think he gave everyone the opportunity to truly know him...his only comfortable means of expression was through his music, and in it he bares his soul. too bad most people weren't listening...

No Picture blake Average	#8 by blake pratt at Jan 1, 2007 at 5:00 PM EST
	"who'll hear what I say?" that's pretty much proved by the number of comments here. i think he's talking about how sadness is so attractive, and easy, and that everyone secretly knows but is too selfish to really care.

No Picture SLUT Badass	#9 by SLUT at Feb 10, 2007 at 12:57 AM EST
	Amazing song. A message from so so afar, that seem's to opena door from within.

No Picture Justin Average	#10 by Justin Ruiz at Feb 17, 2007 at 4:45 AM EST
	No doubt about it, depression is so additictive. its really refering to the fact that pity is such a important thing. The fact that most poeple who are depressed most of the time are looking for others to realise the depression and almost save them. "who will hear what I say" is kind of way of asking for things without asking. Great song Nick Drake had no end to his genius and His death has imortilized him and froze him as statue in time. Over a while the statue fades but will always be brought back polished and cleaned so the new generation can find their own answer in this mans depression.

No Picture Josh Average	#11 by Josh at Apr 4, 2007 at 9:40 PM EST
	I love this song, though I really don't get, what he is trying to say, or at least I don't get the whole picture. But maybe that's just because I mostly listen to this song, when I have my own problems in mind ...

No Picture Hudson Lead Player	#12 by Hudson Ryan at Apr 27, 2007 at 12:01 AM EST
	God, it took 3 times to listen to it but I finally got it. The first verse "Please beware of them that stare" is about people who create a fake facade around you and smile just to pretend everything is alright. Once you have seen through them and you know that the world (the western world anyway) is mostly full of these people who always smile, it's really not worth living among them, to be something amongst them. To "win the earth" is pointless and you'll eventually see. After all, who among them will remember you? I think's he's hinting at the selfishness and kind of narcisistic attitude that people continue to hold. I'm not sure if that made sense, it's clearer in my head and at least this information may act as a step for someone who may start their own ideas.

No Picture Snap! Crackle! Average	#13 by Snap! Crackle! Josh!! waldenmaier at May 9, 2007 at 7:08 PM EST
	i see the similarity with between the bars. maybe elliott smith was influenced by this song since drake was decades before him.. Smith has claimed however not knowing who Drake was until someone told him he sounded like him. I get two different vibes from each artist, although they both wrote dark sparse acoustic music.