Chords + Lyrics | Everybody’s Talkin’ (capo 4)
Intro
||: Cmaj7 G6 | Cmaj7 G6 :||
Verse 1
| Cmaj7 G6 | Cmaj7 G6 |
Everybody’s talkin’ at me,
| C7 C6/G | C7 C6/G |
I don’t hear a word they’re saying.
| Dm7 G7 | Dm7 G7 | Cmaj13 G6 | Cmaj13 G6 |
Only the echoes of my mind.
Verse 2
People stop and stare and,
I can’t see their faces.
Only the shadows of their eyes.
Chorus 1
| Dm (Dmmaj7) | G7 G13 |
I’m going where the sun keeps shining.
| C C/G | C7 C6/G |
Through the pouring rain.
| Dm (Dmmaj7) | G7 G13 | C C/G | C7 C6/G |
Going where the weather suits my clothes.
| Dm (Dmmaj7) | G7 G13 |
Banking off of the northeast winds.
| C C/G | C7 C6/G |
Sailing on a summer breeze.
| Dm (Dmmaj7) | G7 G13 | C C/G | C7 C6/G |
And skipping over the ocean, like a stone.
Chorus Tag
| C C/G | C7 C6/G |
Wah, wah wah-wah wah.
| C C/G | C7 C6/G |
Wah-wah wah-wah, wah wah-wah.
| G7 | G7 | Cmaj13 G6 | Cmaj13 G6 |
Wahhh.
Chorus 2
I’m going where the sun keeps shining.
Through the pouring rain.
Going where the weather suits my clothes.
Banking off of the northeast winds.
Sailing on a summer breeze.
And skipping over the ocean, like a stone.
Verse 3
Everybody’s talkin’ at me,
can’t hear a word they’re saying.
Only the echoes of my mind.
Outro
||: G7 | G7 | Cmaj13 G6 | Cmaj13 G6 :|| to fade
I won’t let you leave my love behind.
No, I won’t let you leave.
Ooh, wah, ah.
I won’t let you leave my love behind.
Everybody’s Talkin’ Chords: Master the Fast-Picked Progressions
I can turn most songs into an acoustic guitar arrangement. Over the years, it has become a speciality of mine.
When I first heard Everybody’s Talkin’, it was the Harry Nilsson version on the radio. I liked it but didn’t have the ability to work it out at the time.
A few years later, I heard the Stephen Stills version and loved it—so much that I ignored learning the famous version. Stephen plays it in a much more laid-back style, and I developed my own alternative take on that.
Playing it at gigs, I noticed people didn’t quite connect with my version. They wanted to hear that signature fast-picked guitar part, and I could sense their disappointment. Eventually, I dropped the song from my set.
Now, many years later, as I revisit the original, I have to admit it has defeated me—I simply can’t make Everybody’s Talkin’ work on a single acoustic guitar.
After three days of trying, I’ve given up. I need either a bass player or a second guitar to hold down the rhythm on beats 1 and 2 +. Without that, I can’t integrate the bass movement into the fast picking.
With a steady rhythm underneath, though, the picking sounds fantastic. Here’s a link to the transcription in TAB: Everybody’s Talkin’ – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Verse
The verse uses these chords (there’s TAB for this too):
| Cmaj7 G6 | Cmaj7 G6 |
| C7 C6/G | C7 C6/G |
| Dm7 G7 | Dm7 G7 | Cmaj13 G6 | Cmaj13 G6 |
The fast picking is challenging, but once you’ve got the patterns down, it’s just like anything else—you practise, and the speed comes after a few days.
Chorus
The chorus of Everybody’s Talkin’ follows II – V, leading into a descending movement over I (C), like this:
||: Dm (Dmmaj7) | G7 G13 |
| C C/G | C7 C6/G :||
Chorus Tag
The chorus tag extends that descending movement before shifting the chords:
||: C C/G | C7 C6/G :||
| G7 | G7 | Cmaj13 G6 | Cmaj13 G6 |
Those last two bars mirror the end of the verse, but with a busier picking pattern (check the TAB).
Outro
For the outro, the V chord (G7) leads into the same repeating pattern from the verse’s ending, fading out:
||: G7 | G7 | Cmaj13 G6 | Cmaj13 G6 :||
All these sections sound incredible—provided you have a bass player and/or a second guitarist holding down the syncopated half-time groove. Without that foundation, the fast picking sounds oddly out of place. I suppose that’s why they filed this tune under Orchestral-Pop!
Once you’ve mastered the fast picking and brought it up to speed, this simple chord chart is all you need to bring to the gig.
Everybody’s Talkin’ Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Everybody’s Talkin’ chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Everybody’s Talkin’ iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Everybody’s Talkin’ TAB | Course Preview
In the course, you get TAB for how to play all sections of Everybody’s Talkin’, arranged to work as the sole guitar part.
As a preview, here’s the intro—played using a capo on fret 4 to match the original key and maintain the signature sound.
The original version of Everybody’s Talkin’ was written, recorded, and released by Fred Neil in 1966.
In 1968, Harry Nilsson released his version on the album Aerial Ballet, which is the one most people recognise. The following year, after being featured in the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack, it was re-released and climbed even higher in the charts.
Since Fred Neil’s original and Harry Nilsson’s success with Everybody’s Talkin’, countless other artists have recorded their versions. Here’s a selection:
- The Beautiful South
- Glen Campbell
- Crosby Stills & Nash
- Crowded House
- Neil Diamond
- Julio Iglesias
- Willie Nelson
- Madeleine Peyroux
- Bill Withers
- Stevie Wonder
I’ve included all these versions in the playlist at the top of the page. To this day, that Stephen Stills live version is still my favorite, it’s 3rd in the playlist.
Everybody’s Talkin’ Chords: Continue Learning
Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Everybody’s Talkin’ (Harry Nilsson) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy: