Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight) | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| Em Em7 | D | C G/B | G (Gsus4) |
| Em Em7 | D | C G/B | G N.C | N.C |
Verse 1
||: Em Em7 | D | C G/B | G (Gsus4) :||
When I passed you in the doorway, well, you took me with a glance.
I should’ve took that last bus home, but I asked you for a dance.
Now we go steady to the pictures, I always get chocolate stains on my pants.
And my father, he’s going crazy, he says I’m livin’ in a trance.
Chorus 1
| Em Em7 | D | C G/B | G (Gsus4) |
But I’m dancing in the moonlight, it’s caught me in its spotlight (it’s alright, alright).
| Em Em7 | D | C G/B | G N.C | N.C |
Dancing in the moonlight, on this long, hot summer night.
Verse 2
It’s three o’clock in the morning, and I’m on the streets again.
I disobeyed another warning, I should’ve been in by ten.
Now I won’t get out until Sunday, I’ll have to say I stayed with friends.
Oh, but it’s a habit worth forming, if it means to justify the end.
Chorus 2
Dancing in the moonlight, it’s caught me in its spotlight (it’s alright, alright).
Dancing in the moonlight, on this long, hot summer night.
Verse 3 (breakdown)
||: Em | D | C5 G/B | G (Gsus4) :|| x3
And I’m walking home, the last bus has long gone.
Chorus 3 (short)
| Em | D | C5 G/B | G N.C | N.C |
But I’m dancing in the moonlight.
Solo
||: Em Em7 | D | C G/B | G (Gsus4) :|| x4
Outro
||: Em Em7 | D | C G/B | G (Gsus4) :||
Dancing in the moonlight, it’s caught me in its spotlight (it’s alright, it’s alright).
Dancing in the moonlight, on this long, hot summer night.
Dancing in the moonlight (I’m dancing in the moonlight) it’s caught me in its spotlight (it’s caught me in its spotlight).
Dancing in the moonlight (dancing in the moonlight), on this long, hot summer night (it’s got me hot).
Dancing in the moonlight (I’m dancing in the moonlight), it’s caught me in its spotlight (it’s caught me alright, alright).
Dancing in the moonlight (alright, alright, alright, alright, alright), on this long, hot summer night (got so goddamn hot).
Dancing in the moonlight (I’m dancing), it’s caught me in its spotlight (I’m still dancing).
Dancing in the moonlight (I’m dancing in the moonlight), on this long, hot summer night.
Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight) Chords: Learn the progressions
I would recommend you start with playing that bass line and then see if you can add the chords.
To do this, you need TAB, here’s a link to that part of the lesson: Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight) – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
The TAB lesson is mainly about adding chords to that bass line, and in doing so, creating an acoustic guitar part.
Do this and you could play this very cool tune on your own or easily in a band as you’ll have a full understanding of how it’s been put together.
Once you’ve worked through the TAB, a simple chord chart is all you need to remember Dancing In The Moonlight’s chords, here’s one I made for you.
Dancing In The Moonlight Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
I started saying how easy this is as it’s essentially the same chords on repeat. However, there are some strange things going on with the arrangement.
Using the chart above, as well as the chords and lyrics, you’ll soon work out what happens from the breakdown verse to the end when things start to become more confusing.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight) Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight) iReal Pro.
Using this and the iRealPro app you can change the key, although this will be very difficult if you’re playing on your own.
This is not a tune by Toploader or King Harvest!
Thin Lizzy‘s Dancing In The Moonlight is a completely different song to Toploader’s cover of that old King Harvest hit!
Dropped a few months before the album Bad Reputation (1977), Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight) was released as a single.
It did reasonably well in the U.K. and Canadian charts and has grown over the years, still being played on the radio decades later. It’s also been used in several ads.
There is a guest artist on this recording, the sax is played by Supertramp’s John Helliwell.
For the working guitarist, playing this tune comes with a caveat, which tune do they mean when the singer exclaims: Let’s play Dancing In The Moonlight!
I would advise you to learn both and be prepared for half the band playing the wrong one.
Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight) Chords | Related Pages
Dancing In The Moonlight | Guitar Lesson + TAB
In this lesson, you get TAB for how to play Dancing In The Moonlight‘s bass line, verse, chorus and breakdown sections, all intended for one acoustic guitar.
| Em Em7 | D | C G/B | G (Gsus4) |
When I passed you in the doorway, well, you took me with a glance…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- American Girl chords by Tom Petty
- Dancing In The Moonlight chords by King Harvest
- Into The Great Wide Open chords by Tom Petty
- Hooked On A Feeling chords by Blue Swede
- The Joker chords by The Steve Miller Band
Thin Lizzy tunes
Formed by bass player Phil Lynott and drummer Brian Downey in 1969, Irish Thin Lizzy would become world famous.
Their best-known tunes include Whiskey In The Jar, The Boys Are Back In Town, Jailbreak, Don’t Believe A Word, and Dancing In The Moonlight.
Thin Lizzy on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Dancing In The Moonlight’s chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
