Dan fingerpicks this song. I have tabbed out the intro because it gives a pretty good representation of the pattern and variations he uses throughout the song. The bass is played by alternating the thumb between the lowest and second lowest string every 1/4 note. When he does the walkdown during the verses ("And I buy all my days"), he seems to only hit the bass note of each chord so I have notated it as such. strums the chords. Now on to the bridge. It gets sort of difficult here because the second guitar starts playing a big part and there is also more occasional strumming. At "colored lights", a very distinctive picking pattern appears and I have written it out there. The chord names represent those picking patterns until the end of the bridge, at which point you can return to normal chord forms. You can barre the first two forms but make sure not to hit that D string. Sorry if it is confusing, but I promise I could have made it much worse. I hope my tab does this beautiful song justice. *Lyrics adapted from LyricsMania.com [Intro] [Verse 1] Close the door on a short night Lift the lid on the daylight 6:09 West Tennessee time And I buy all my days At the same place where the girl sells her nights To a God of ocean tides. [Chorus] All night long, Writing poems to California Melodies of failure And the people I have thrown A - way, meanwhile, somewhere west of Carolina In a congregation of strangers We are digging holes to China Then we pray to our reflections In the water when it rises. [Verse 2] I said headlights pin the highway down Jesus spins the world around And I’ll spend all my tomorrows coming down Goodbye all my days. I know I said I never loved you But I might just try again tonight. [Bridge] Truck stops and river gods Gas stations of the Cross Following a ghost, Following a ghost, I pray the water wash away The memories and the cost. Carry me south, to the sea Along with your memories of me We are born in the water And I will re-turn to Thee. e|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----| B|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-| |------------|------------|------------|------------| A|--3-------3-------|--3-------3-------|--3-------3-------|--3-------3-------| |------------|------------|------------=-----|------------=-----| e|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----| B|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-| |------------|------------|------------|------------| |------5-------5---|------5-------5---|------5-------5---|------5-------5---| |--5-------5-------|--5-------5-------|--5-------5-------|--5-------5-------| |------------|------------|------------=-----|------------=-----| (2) B|--------8-------8-|--------8-------8-|--------8-------8-|--------8-------8-| |------------|------------|------------|------------| A|--10-----10-------|--10------10------|--10-----10-------|--10------10------| |------------|------------|------------=-----|------------=-----| Colored lights And birthday cakes Candle wax On paper plates. Breathe the water Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye. You can see through water All the way up to the sky. [Verse 3] Gods of water, gods of rain Cover up the sun again We are crossing at the Mississippi line And I tried all my days To love you just the way you hoped I might, But I’m leaving here to-night. I can’t remember yesterday I tried, if I said I could I lied. [Outro] (2) Cadd9 (Strummed end riff) [Chords] Verse/Chorus C X32010 G 320033 D XX0232 Em 022000 Am X02210 A7 X02020 Bridge D/B X2023X Cmaj7 X32000 Cadd9 X32030 D/E 0X0232 Csus2 X35X33 G5/D X55X33 G(2) X(10)9X87 Outro Em7 020000 Em7(2) 020003