There are lots of great chords that work for this song, but the ones I’ve tabbed here are based on
my best interpretation of the ones Justin Hayward and his rhythm guitarist are using in this performance:
https://youtu.be/ToQB-ux3UmU
If you check out my chords below, you'll see it's not as hard as it looks -
lots of E chord shapes sliding around the fingerboard, and also variations and inversions of E and A chords
which you could play as just the one shape for simplicity if you want.
A/E: 0776x0
E: 022100
F#sus4/E: 044300
E*: 0xx454
Bsus4*: 099900
Bsus4: 099800
G#m: 466xxx
F#m: 244xxx
Em7: 055400
Esus4: 022200
E**: 014141300 (E chord played up 12 frets)
A: 577655
B: 799877
[Intro]
A/E E A/E A6/E Bsus4* Bsus4
A/E E A/E G#m F#m
E F#sus4/E A/E E
E E
[Verse]
E F#sus4/E
Just in a simple conversation, you can hear the feeling change,
Em7 A/E E Esus4 E Esus4 E
Like a river running down, down to the sea
E F#sus4/E
And if you need an explanation, I defy you to explain,
Em7 A/E E Esus4 E
But something's not the same, and it's bothering me
[Bridge]
Esus4 A E
I think I see where I went wrong
E A E Bsus4
I think I see what's going on
[Chorus]
E** Bsus4 A/E E Bsus4 A/E
Meanwhile and far away as the night draws in
A B A B
He's holding her right now, I can feel it all begin
E B A B E B A/E
Meanwhile and far away when the day is done
A B A B
I ride away my friend, into the setting sun
B E Em7 A/E
And the river's running down
A/E E E
Down to the sea
[Instrumental]
A E A E
A E A G#m F#m
E F#sus4/E A/E E
E
[Verse]
E F#sus4/E
I let love slip right through my fingers, and I watched it drift away
Em7 A/E E Esus4 E Esus4 E
But still I had to say what was written for me
E F#sus4/E
I thought I'd end up as the hero, thought the glory would be mine
Em7 A/E E
Very soon I was to find it wasn't to be
[Bridge]
E A E
‘Cos in this part I've got to play
E A E B
It doesn't quite turn out that wa-a-ay
[Chorus]
E Bsus4 A/E E Bsus4 A/E
Meanwhile and far away as the night draws in
A B A B
He's holding her right now, I can feel it all begin
E B A B E B A/E
Meanwhile and far away when the day is done
A B A B
I ride away my friend, into the setting sun
B E Em7 A/E
And the river's running down
A/E E E
Down to the sea
[Outro]
A E A E
A E A G#m F#m
E