Milk and Honey (Jackson C. Frank)...as played by Nick Drake

First things first, put a capo on the second fret.....

Okay, so the progression is a fairly simple descending Am with the same six chords for the whole song. I'm not totally smart with the chord names but I'll write them out:

Am (obviously)     Am/G
I--0--I            I--0--I
I--1--I            I--1--I
I--2--I            I--2--I
I--2--I            I--2--I
I--0--I            I-----I
I-----I            I--3--I

Am/Gb              Fmaj7(kinda)
I--0--I            I--0--I
I--1--I            I--1--I
I--2--I            I--2--I
I--0--I            I--0--I
I-----I            I-----I
I--2--I            I--1--I

E                  E7
I--0--I            I--0--I
I--0--I            I--0--I
I--1--I            I--1--I
I--2--I            I--0--I
I--2--I            I--2--I
I--0--I            I--0--I

And here is how it goes for the first verse, which is the same for all the verses:

Am       Am/G   Am/Gb  Fmaj7
Gold and silver is the autumn moon
Am       Am/G   Am/Gb   Fmaj7
Soft and tender are her skies
Am     Am/G Am/Gb  Fmaj7
Yes and no are the answers
Am      Am/G  E   Eb     Am    E  Fmaj7  Eb
Written in my true loves eyes

Okay, so that's basic shit. Here is the picking pattern which is a bit tricky. I use my thumb to play the bottom F note on the Fmaj7 chord, but that's just me.

  Am                    Am/G
I----------0---------0----------0---------0---I
I------1h3-------1h3--------1h3-------1h3-----I
I----2---------2----------2---------2---------I
I---------------------------------------------I
I--0---------0--------------------------------I
I-----------------------3---------3-----------I
  
  Am/Gb             Fmaj7
I--------------0----------------0-------------I
I----0h1p0------------0h1p0-------3b----------I
I----------2----------------2-----------------I
I---------------------------------------------I
I---------------------------------------------I
I--2---------2---2--1---------1---------------I

Repeat that the three times and then:

  Am                    Am/G
I----------0---------0----------0-------------I
I------1h3-------1h3--------1-----1---1-------I
I----2---------2----------2---2-----2---------I
I---------------------------------------------I
I--0---------0--------------------------------I
I-----------------------3---------------------I

 E        Eb        Am
I---------------------------0-----------------I
I----------0------------1h3-------1-----------I
I------1-----1--------2---------2-------------I
I--------2-----0------------------------------I
I----2-----------2--0---------0-----0---------I
I--0------------------------------------------I

 E                   Fmaj7
I---------------------------------------------I
I------0h1p0---0----------0h1p0---0h1p0---0---I
I-----------------------2-------2-------2-----I
I------------2---2----------------------------I
I----2-------------2--------------------------I
I--0------------------1-----------------------I





 Eb
I------------0-------I
I----------0---0-----I
I--------1-------1---I
I------0-------------I
I----2---------------I
I--0-----------------I

...So that's basically one variation. Nick Drake's fingers had a mind of their own so often the position of the B string triplets change randomly and common Am hammer-ons are used. In other words, play it how you feel it. The intro is a loose variation of the main pattern and here is the outro:

I----------0----------------------------0---3-0-2-0--7--I
I------1h3---1---------3---1-0------0h1---2-0-0-0-0-----I
I----2---------2-0---2---2-2-1----2------------------5--I
I------------------4-------2-0--------------------------I
I--0----------------------------0-----------------------I
I-------------------------------------------------------I

I hope all that isn't too confusing. I was a little confused writing it. I have a feeling that Nick Drake played this song in a strange tuning as a lot of his songs were, which would most likely make it easier to play. This is just the way i've always played it, and it's pitch perfect with the recording. Also I should note that this is based on the version on Tanworth-In-Arden, and the version on Family Tree is slightly different in picking patterns. Here are the words:

Gold and silver is the Autumn moon
Soft and tender are her tides
Yes and no are the answers
Written in my true loves eyes

Autumn's leaving, and winter's coming
Think that I'll be moving on
I've got to leave her and find another hand
I've got to sing my heart's true song

Round and round the burning circle
All the seasons one, two, and three
Autumn leaves, then comes Winter
Spring is born and wanders free

Gold and silver bounds my heart on
All too soon they fade and die
Then I know there is no other
Milk and honey where they lie

Here's a link to the audio. It's some video on youtube with some random losers, but the music is right.

Let me know if any of this makes no sense or just totally sucks. I think it's a bit more accurate than most of the tabs for this song that are out there.

Peace,
Honeydripper