A Night To Remember | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| Dm7 | Am7 | Cm7 F7 | Bbmaj7 |
| Dm7 | Am7 | Cm7 F7 | Bbmaj7 N.C |
Verse 1
| Bbmaj7 | Am7 |
When you love someone, it’s natural, not demanding.
| Bbmaj7 | Am7 |
And that’s one thing I’m proud to say I’ve found in you.
| Bbmaj7 | Am7 |
I’m so glad we reached an understanding.
| Bbmaj7 Bm7b5 | C | C |
Now I know my heart is safe with you, ooh.
| Ebmaj7 F7 Cm7 | Bbmaj7 |
So now my love to you, baby, I surrender.
Chorus 1
| Dm7 | Am7 |
Get ready, tonight.
| Cm7 F7 | Bbmaj7 |
Gonna make this a night to remember.
| Dm7 | Am7 |
Get ready, oh, baby, tonight.
| Cm7 F7 | Bbmaj7 N.C |
Gonna make this a night to remember.
Verse 2
Celebrations in the heart ’cause we’re united.
And there’s nothing in this world to come between me and you.
We’re together, and it keeps me so excited.
To think of what the power of love can do, ooh.
And I’m filled with a love that’s, oh, so tender.
Chorus 2
Get ready (baby), tonight (girl).
I’m gonna make this a night to remember.
Get ready (get ready), tonight.
| Cm7 F7 | Bbmaj7 |
I’m gonna make this a night to remember.
Key change
| Db Eb | Bmaj7 | Bbm7 |
Make this a night to remember. Get ready, tonight.
| Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 |
Gonna make this a night to remember.
Chorus 3
| Ebm7 | Bbm7 |
Get ready, (get ready) tonight.
| Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 |
Gonna make this a night to remember.
Instrumental
| Ebm7 | Bbm7 | Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 |
Chorus 4
| Ebm7 | Bbm7 |
This night you won’t forget.
| Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 |
Gonna make this a night to remember.
| Ebm7 | Bbm7 |
‘Cause your love I won’t regret.
| Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 N.C |
Gonna make this a night to remember.
Verse 3
| Bmaj7 | Bbm7 |
Let’s make a toast to those who helped make this occasion.
| Bmaj7 | Bbm7 |
They turned their back on love, and that’s what drove you straight to me.
| Bmaj7 | Bbm7 |
Now to you I make a lasting dedication.
| Bmaj7 Cm7b5 | Db | Db |
I’ll show you all that love and life can be, ooh.
| Emaj7 Gb7 Dbm7 | Bmaj7 |
And each day that I live I will deliver.
Chorus 5 (as chorus 4, no stop)
Get ready (this night you won’t forget), tonight.
Gonna make this a night to remember.
Get ready (‘cause your love I won’t regret), tonight.
| Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 |
Gonna make this a night to remember.
Chorus 6 (as chorus 5)
Get ready, baby, tonight, darling.
Gonna make this a night to remember.
Get ready (it won’t be like the past), tonight (I will make it last).
Gonna make this a night to remember.
Exploring the Chord Progressions of A Night To Remember: Key Changes and Subtle Twists
Let’s look at the chords for each section of A Night To Remember; they’ve managed to squeeze the most out of them! Starting with the intro, which later becomes the chorus, looks like this:
||: Dm7 | Am7 | Cm7 F7 | Bbmaj7 :||
We are in the key of Bb here, starting on chord III and then an unexpected Am7, which should have been a m7b5 as it’s chord VII. Swiftly moving on, we have an obvious II – V – I in Cm7–F7–Bbmaj7.
The Am7 is the standout chord. It makes it feel as if we’re in both the key of F, with Dm7 being VI and Am7 being III; as well as in the key of Bb, Dm7 being III and Am7 being a modified VII.
Microscopic changes like this are what give meaning to the saying “familiarity with a twist”.
Let’s now look at the verse. First, we go between what I can only describe as IV – III in the key of F. Nowhere else do we find a maj7 chord with a min7 a semitone below.
||: Bbmaj7 | Am7 :|| x3
This is followed by Bbmaj7–Bm7b5–C. We must here see the Bbmaj7 as chord IV and C as V, so still in the key of F. The Bm7b5 is just a passing chord; it’s not chord VII.
Finally, we go back to the key of Bb as the chords move like this:
| Ebmaj7 F7 Cm7 | Bbmaj7 |
That’s IV – V – II – I in the key of Bb.
By now, we’ve essentially played all the chords A Night To Remember consists of; the rest is just arrangement tricks!
Key Change and Modal Interchange in A Night To Remember
Start with a key change that looks like this:
| Db Eb | Bmaj7 | Bbm7 | Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 |
That Bmaj7 is a reharmonised Ebm7 which helps with the key change.
Next, we play the chorus a semitone up, like this:
||: Ebm7 | Bbm7 | Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 :||
This is followed by an instrumental and breakdown chorus, staying on the same chords.
Next, we go back to the verse again, although in the new key, like this:
||: Bmaj7 | Bbm7 :|| x3
| Bmaj7 Cm7b5 | Db | Db |
| Emaj7 Gb7 Dbm7 | Bmaj7 |
| Ebm7 | Bbm7 | Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 |
Finally, we go back to a chorus and play to fade.
||: Ebm7 | Bbm7 | Dbm7 Gb7 | Bmaj7 :||
To summarise, A Night To Remember’s chords are both in the keys of F and Bb; we then move up a semitone, and now both sections are in the keys of Gb and B. We could call this a modal interchange.
Here’s a chord chart.
A Night To Remember Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Here’s a PDF and iReal Pro version of my chord chart available for you to download.
A Night to Remember gave Michael Jackson the moonwalk!
In 1982, Shalamar released A Night to Remember as a single from their sixth album, Friends. Although disco was supposedly on its way out, the song could be described as post-disco.
It did reasonably well in the charts, but had it been released a few years earlier, it would likely have been a massive worldwide hit.
In 1982, on Top of the Pops in the U.K., just a year before Michael Jackson famously performed Billie Jean and debuted the moonwalk, Jeffrey Daniel did the move first. Check the video at 2:00 above.
Daniel actually taught Michael Jackson how to moonwalk! While it’s often claimed that he invented it, the move actually dates back to the 1930s.
If you’re in a band looking to get people dancing, A Night to Remember is a perfect, unexpected choice. The song’s chords are great for this hidden dance floor gem, making it a fun one to play.
But here’s the real question: will you moonwalk while playing A Night to Remember‘s chords?
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