Light Years Bass Tab

14/6/00 Paegas Arena Praha Czech Republic Tabs:

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Dropped-D tuning (D,A,D,G)

Intro
G----19-19-----19-19-19-19-----19-19-19-19-------19-19-19-19-
D------------------------------------------------------------
A-17======--17-17-17-17===--17-17-17-17===----17-17-17-17-17-
D------------------------------------------------------------

                                     verse 1 (3x)
G----19-19-19-19------19-19-19-19-|---------------------------|
D----------------------------------|---------------------------|
A-17-17-17-17===---17-17-17-17-----|-5=====1=====0-3=====4====-|
D----------------------------------|---------------------------|

  ending part of verse 1          chorus (2x)
G-------------------------------|-------------------------------------
D-------------------------------|-------------------------------------
A-5-0===-1====-0-3----44444444--|-----5-----5--5-5--5-5-5---5-5----5--
D-------------------------------|-0-0-0-0-0-0--0-0------0-0-0-0--0-0-0

                                             ending part of chorus 1
G-----------------------------------------|----------------------------|
D-----------------------------------------|----------------------------|
A-222-222222222-2222--000-000000000-0000--|-5=====1=====3====5====55-1-|
D-----------------------------------------|----------------------------|

   verse 2 (1x)
G-----------------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------------
A--5=====1------3----4----0-0-4--5-------1--1-0-0-1-0-3--0-3-3-4-4
D--------------5-------------------0-3-5--------------------------


G-------------------------------------------------|
D--------------5-3-3-5----------------------------|
A-4444-5-0-55----------0-1-1-1-0-3-3-33-44444444--|
D-------------------------------------------------|

  chorus (with variation) (1x)
G-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-----5-----5--5-5--5-5-5---5---5---5---222-222222222-2222--000-000000000-0000
D-0-0-0-0-0-0--0-0------0-0-0-0---0-0-0---------------------------------------


  chorus (with different variation) (1x)
G-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A-----5-----5--5-5--5-5-5---5----5--5---222-222222222-2222--000-000000000-0000|
D-0-0-0-0-0-0--0-0------0-0-0-----0--0----------------------------------------|


   bridge
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------3-9-9-9999/-------------------------------------
A-5-----5-5-0---0-0-----00-------------0-0-0-0-0---3-3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2/
D-------------2-------2--------------------------6-------------------------


G-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A-0-0-0-0-0---3-3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2----0-0-0-0-0---3-3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2
D-----------6----------------------------------------6------------------


G---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D-------------------/4------------------------------------------------------|
A-2-2-2-2-3-3-3-3-3----2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-0-3-3-3-3-3-3-3---3---3---3---3---3--|
D------------------------------------------------------5---5---5---5---5---5|


repeat the chorus 2x
after the bridge, then
go right to this...

  ending
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-5-----5-0--1-1---0-3-3-----5---5-0-5-0--1-1--1-3/-------0-5---1--1-3----
D----------------3-------5-5-------------------------0--0------------------


G-------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------/8-7----------
A-5-5-0-5---1-1-0--------------------1-1-0--------5-5-0-5-------/10-8-7-
D-------------------5-3-5--7--0-0-0-0--------5-3-5------------------------


G-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D----------/8-7---------------------------------------------------------
A-5-5-0-5------10-8-7--5-5-0-5--1-0--------------(5)/(12)-------------
D-------------------------------------5-3-2--0--------------------------

Taken from The BassMasta -- http://www.bassmasta.net

Source: http://www.bassmasta.net/p/pearl_jam/110095.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture hnmhgn Average	#1 by hnmhgn Chnhn at Sep 2, 1977 at 1:39 PM EST
	who was this written by, if stone/jeff it could relate to Andy Wood....his light does shine from afar and has made them stars...think about it....i agree with the whole loss/grief/regret themes, but it could be about anyone, even still living but gone (but not forgotten), that is the appeal of PJ songs, they can be very personal lyrically.. I really dig this song.

No Picture Oli Average	#2 by Oli n/a at Feb 17, 1978 at 11:28 PM EST
	When I first heard Light Years, I immediately thought it was a ode to the fans from the band. Think about it..the band were just ordinary muso's, who were made into stars by the fans. That's underlined throughout the song. The first verse, is about the declining fan base and how Ed maybe preached too much...I mean how often has Ed talked about politics and war to the audience? Many times. The remaining verses just support that ideal. Another note "I've figured out numbers and what they're for". Think about how many PJ songs have numbers and little calculations in them? Nothingman, Animal...

No Picture Jose Average	#3 by Jose Guerra at Nov 18, 1980 at 8:15 PM EST
	For me this song is grief. All this fan stuff and lost love stuff...i knew about it and because of that i didn't like the song too much- t'was so typical. But i listened to it some time ago. It was just after my friend's sudden death. This song says everything I've wanted to say but i didn't have words. Thank you so much for this song.

No Picture troy Average	#4 by troy worden at Mar 27, 1982 at 6:48 AM EST
	if you listen to the bootleg of landgraaf, holland 12-june-2000, Ed is talking about a woman her name is 'diane', she 's the one who is taken away, the whole message of this song is : if you love someone, 'love 'm while there here cause they candie any day' so its not nessecarily about andy wood, it can be any person.

No Picture Lucien Wanna Be	#5 by Lucien at Sep 6, 1982 at 5:37 PM EST
	If you ever get a chance to listen to the demo, the song appears to be about a woman... love lost type of stuff. Lines in the chorus like, "You were never more beautiful, than at the end of the day." At times it appears Eddie is making stuff up as they record.(improv) FYI- the original music and lyrics are SO much better than the studio version. also... Mike used the music from the Light Years demo(not the lyrics, unfortuneatly) for a song on his new Rockfords ep, Waiting.

No Picture Jimmy Wanna Be	#6 by Jimmy Jazz at Sep 14, 1982 at 3:10 PM EST
	First off---how cool is this? THIS is in MY opinion what PJ is all about----us all interpretting the lyrics and music as we see fit. In the case of Light Years, however, I couldn't agree with Moody1 more. To me, its simply about dealing with the grief / loss of a loved one. Its a hard process to learn and actively perform. It seems as PJ has matured in their music and writing, grief / loss of loved ones is a topic that the band has explored A LOT! (aka Light Years, Other side, Love Boat Captain, Man of the Hour etc.) I love it. We all go thru it and I feel that these songs help because they ALL provide a semblance of hope. To me, in light years, the hope comes from the line "your light made US stars". I like the US because the person lamenting in the song isn't dead yet. It seems to foreshadow how we will all (Godwilling) be united again sometime, somehow, in an even BETTER place than what we have here----even though we SEEM TO LIKE IT HERE :) . Well done again, PJ on a truly classic song. One more thing.....i feel a great sister song to this one is Other side.....THAT song is written from the point of view of the person IN heaven longing for the person left behind on earth! Another great one! Down with all the haters! Binaural, Riot Act, Self-title = PJ gettin' better, better and better, man! ;) Pun intended :)

No Picture The Masta The Muther F*ing Masta!	#7 by The Masta at Nov 2, 1982 at 5:34 PM EST
	Light Years is about a very smart man. He is able to figure out all these great and complicated things yet he is unable to figure out why his love was taken away from him. Without his love this man is nothing. Together they are mearly stones but together they shine like stars. He regrets not spending more time with her when they were only seperated by miles because now they are seperated by light years.

No Picture Tyler Average	#8 by Tyler Ruli at Aug 18, 1983 at 7:23 PM EST
	This song is basically about an entity, ( and I say entity to equate it to the band or a person...) that has learned from experiences and in all trains of thought has become wise, but they still can not figure out why Entity #2 ( fairweather-fans or random woman ) has left but they still remember having them around, and they give a thank you or shout out to them by basically saying, if it wasnt for you, we would not be where we are today... I love this song.... Personally I think it's about the fans, but obviously Eddie and the gang wrote it so if they say it's about a love lost... well I can't dispute that....

No Picture Rory Wanna Be	#9 by Rory Burlet at Jul 27, 1984 at 8:29 PM EST
	I know its all about the music here, but you just cant ignore how beautifull the cd cover and the pictures inside are... Go Jerome Turner, whoever you are; Youre good, man :)

No Picture 123 Wanna Be	#10 by 123 123 at Mar 16, 1986 at 2:58 PM EST
	One line sbreaks up the whole death angle. And that is this: "Every inch between us becomes light years now." Unless of course he writing from the perspective of a man in a moment of time where he sees the life of a loved one ebb away. Definately a song about grief, but not necessarily of death. One of my favourite PJ tracks. That line quoted above can also be used to support the band/part-time fan angle.

No Picture Luke Rhythm Player	#11 by Luke Williams at Apr 16, 1987 at 6:06 PM EST
	I'm surprised people think that it is something as simple as an ode to the fans. Respect your opinion, but that's not it. As others have said, this is grief. A man who understands the world in so many ways cannot comprehend this loss. "We were but stones ... Your life made us stars" -- first of all it's one of the best lyrics Pearl Jam has ever written, in my opinion. But again, it just points back to the loss, to the beauty of the person who died and how much she meant to those around her.

No Picture Frodd Average	#12 by Frodd aka josh laing at Feb 6, 1995 at 12:21 AM EST
	this song is about loss, death and how once they were far apart, burt could still see each other, but now death has made the distance 'light years' there is a regret from not spending time together, and he is unable to figure out why this person was taken away so young. i can definatly relate to this song, it helped me through a recent berevement

No Picture Brian Average	#13 by Brian at Jun 1, 1999 at 12:26 PM EST
	This song doesn't apply to me entirely, but for the most part it rings so true to how I feel about my current relationship. Matt and I met eachother over the internet, became best friends, and that soon evolved. We always used to be depressed, but now we light eachother up. We're such great friends and every day would be heaven if we could spend it with eachother. The catch is, we live about 1200 miles apart. Neither of us can see eachother but once or twice a year on long holidays.... Every day to me feels like it's wasted waiting, because we can't be together right now. Time is just slowly slipping through the hourglass..... I can't stand just sitting around waiting for my life to begin when I already know exactly what I want to do with it. As it was put in a movie, "when you know you wanna spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start right away." That's how we feel but we have to wait.... Our story seems almost perfectly conveyed in these stanzas: "With heavy breath, awakened regrets. Back pages and days alone that could have been spent together, But we were miles apart. Every inch between us becomes light years now. No time to be void or save up on life. Oh, you got to spend it all. And wherever you've gone, and wherever we might go. It don't seem fair. Today just disappeared. Your lights reflected now. Reflected from afar. We were but stones. Your light made us stars."

No Picture Rebecca Average	#14 by Rebecca ******* at Sep 9, 2001 at 2:34 AM EST
	See, I always figured that as Binuaral was written while Ed and his wife were in the process of breaking up this might have been his take on coming to terms with the end of that particular relationship. Looking back not being able to figure out what went wrong and talking about the time they should have spent together but being apart (due to touring or whatever)

No Picture Mr. Shen Average	#15 by Mr. Shen at Oct 14, 2001 at 2:11 AM EST
	this is a lovely song.........enough said :)