Disco Inferno | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| (Eb Db B Ab) | (F-Gb Eb Db Bb C) |
||: Cm (G C Eb F Bb) | Cm (G C Eb F) |
| Cm (G C Eb F Bb) | Cm (A Bb B) :||
Chorus 1
||: F | Bb | C | C :||
Burn baby burn. Burn baby burn.
Burn baby burn. Burn baby burn, burning!
Verse 1
||: Cm | Cm :||
To my surprise, listen, one hundred stories high.
People getting loose y’all, getting down on the roof. You hear.
Folks are screaming, out of control.
It was so entertaining when the boogie started to explode. I heard somebody say.
Chorus 2
(Burn baby burn) Disco Inferno. (Burn baby burn) Burn the mother down.
(Burn baby burn) Disco Inferno. (Burn baby burn) Burn the mother down, burning!
Verse 2
Satisfaction (woo, oh, how!), came in a chain reaction (burnin’).
I couldn’t get enough, ’til I had to self-destruct (woo, oh, how!).
The heat was on (burnin’), rising to the top, hm.
Everybody going strong (woo, oh, how!), and that is when my spark got hot. I heard somebody say.
Chorus 3
(Burn baby burn) Disco Inferno. (Burn baby burn) burn that mother down y’all.
(Burn baby burn) Disco Inferno. (Burn baby burn) burn that mother down, burnin’.
Middle 8
| Bb | Bb | C | C |
Up above my head, I hear music in the air
| Bbmaj7 | Bbmaj7 | C N.C | Cm (G F Eb D G) | Cm (G F Eb D) |
That makes me know, there’s a party somewhere.
Verse 3
Satisfaction came in a chain reaction. You hear?
I couldn’t get enough, so I had to self-destruct, hm.
The heat was on, rising to the top, hm.
Everybody going strong, and that is when my spark got hot. I heard somebody say.
Chorus 4
(Burn baby burn) Disco Inferno. (Burn baby burn) Burn that mother down.
(Burn baby burn) Disco Inferno. (Burn baby burn) Burn that mother down.
(Burn baby burn) Ah hey! (Burn baby burn) Burn that mother down.
(Burn baby burn) Disco Inferno. (Burn baby burn) Burn that mother down.
Disco Inferno Chords: Exploring the Bass-Driven Progressions and Modal Interchanges
Kicking off with one of the wildest bass lines ever, complete with what sounds like a mistake (sliding from F to Gb), Disco Inferno is all about the bass.
The intro notes are: Eb – Db – B – Ab – (F) Gb – Eb – Db – Bb – C. As a keen student of scales, I’d love to tell you exactly what that is—but honestly, I have no clue!
When the band joins in, they play a Cm over a four-bar bass line. Now, it’s clearer that the notes come from the C Dorian mode—the 6th isn’t explicitly there, but in this style, it’s never Aeolian, so Cm is chord II.
The next section shifts to F, moving through F – Bb – C (I – IV – V). This briefly makes Cm feel like a Vm, a rare occurrence in music—(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman is one of the few examples.
However, if you compare the two songs, you’ll hear that this isn’t a true Vm—instead, it’s a modal interchange from Mixolydian (V) to Dorian (II). This makes perfect sense, as the only difference between these two modes is the 3rd.
The only other section is the “Up above my head, I hear music in the air…” part, which I’d probably call a middle eight.
Here, we move through Bb – C (IV – V), and you could play Bbmaj7 when it loops. After a stop, the bass leads us back to Cm with a descending line: G – F – Eb – D.
To truly understand chords, modal interchanges, and music theory, it’s crucial to connect theory with your ear.
On that note, compare Disco Inferno’s chords to Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy—it too moves between C and Cm, but in a different way.
Here’s a chord chart I made especially for you.
Disco Inferno Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
You can download my chord chart as a PDF or in the industry-standard iReal Pro format.
Disco Inferno needed Saturday Night Fever to break through!
Disco Inferno by The Trammps has an unusual history. Originally released as a single from the album of the same name in 1976, it saw little success.
However, when the extended, nearly 11-minute version appeared on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, the song re-entered the charts and became a worldwide hit. Ironically, the shorter, edited version remains the most well-known.
Since the late ’70s, Disco Inferno has been covered by Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, and just about every disco band to play a gig.
The Trammps never had another major hit, but Disco Inferno kept them in the spotlight. As recently as 2016, Bernie Sanders used it in his campaign with the slightly altered lyrics: “Bern, Baby, Bern.”
Using the chords, lyrics and chord chart above, you can learn how to play Disco Inferno yourself.
Disco Inferno Chords | Related Pages
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
