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Give Me The Night Chords | George Benson Guitar Lesson

In this guitar lesson, you’ll get the chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a full chord chart, and TAB to guide you as you learn Give Me The Night by George Benson!

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Chords + Lyrics | Give Me The Night

Intro

||: Fm7 Bbm7 | Cm7 Dbmaj7 :|| x4

Verse 1

||: Fm7 Bbm7 | Cm7 Dbmaj7 :||
Whenever dark has fallen.
You know the spirit of the party starts to come alive.
Until the day is dawning.
You can throw out all the blues and hit the city lights.

Chorus 1

Verse 2

You need the evening action.
A place to dine, a glass of wine, a little late romance.
It’s a chain reaction.
You’ll see the people of the world coming out to dance.

Chorus 2

‘Cause there’s music in the air and lots of lovin’ everywhere.
So give me the night (every night).
Give me the night (alright, tonight).

Bridge 1

||: Abm7 Gb | Ebm7 Db :||
So come on out tonight and we’ll lead the others.
On a ride through paradise.
And if you feel all right, then we can be lovers.
| Abm7 Gb | Emaj7 | Db7 |
‘Cause I see that starlight look in your eyes.
| Emaj7 | Eb11 |
And don’t you know we can fly?

Tag 1

||: Fm7 Bbm7 | Cm7 Dbmaj7 :||
Just give me the night (alright, tonight).
Give me the night (yeah, yeah, yeah).

Solo

||: Fm7 Bbm7 | Cm7 Dbmaj7 :|| x4

Chorus 3

‘Cause there’s music in the air and lots of lovin’ everywhere.
So give me the night (every night).
Give me the night (alright, tonight).

Bridge 2

So come on out tonight and we’ll lead the others.
On a ride through paradise.
And if you feel all right, then we can be lovers.
‘Cause I see that starlight look in your eyes.
And don’t you know we can fly?

Verse 3

And if we stay together.
We’ll feel the rhythm of the evening taking us up high.
Never mind the weather.
We’ll be dancing in the street until the morning light.

Chorus 4 (breakdown)

| Bbm7 | Eb11 |
‘Cause there’s music in the air and lots of lovin’ everywhere.
||: Fm7 Bbm7 | Cm7 Dbmaj7 :|| breakdown
So give me the night (all right, tonight).
||: Give me the night (all right, tonight) :|| x3

Tag 2

||: Give me the night (all right, tonight) :|| x3
So give me the night (all right, tonight).

Chorus 5

‘Cause there’s music in the air and lots of lovin’ everywhere.
So give me the night (all right, tonight).
||: Give me the night (all right, tonight) :|| x3

Chorus 6

‘Cause there’s music in the air and lots of lovin’ everywhere.
So give me the night (we can reach the stars tonight) (all right, tonight).
||: (We can reach the stars tonight) (all right, tonight) :|| x3

Chorus 7

‘Cause there’s music in the air and lots of lovin’ everywhere.
So give me the night (We can reach the stars tonight, all right, tonight).
||: Give me the night (all right, tonight) :|| x3

Chorus 8

‘Cause there’s music in the air and lots of lovin’ everywhere.
So give me the night (We can reach the stars tonight, all right, tonight).
||: Give me the night (all right, tonight) :|| x3

Give Me the Night Chords: Breaking Down the Groove

Here’s the good news — Give Me the Night isn’t nearly as complicated as it first sounds. In fact, it’s surprisingly straightforward once you understand the structure.

Main section

The main chord progression moves through VI – II – III – IV. In the key of Fm, that’s:

||: Fm7 (VI) Bbm7 (II) | Cm7 (III) Dbmaj7 (IV) :||

Think of Give Me the Night as a sophisticated minor blues. Once that clicked for me, everything made sense. Compare it to Ain’t No Sunshine or The Thrill Is Gone and you’ll quickly feel at home.

I solo using the F minor blues scale as a foundation, adding colour tones like the 9, and major 7, and occasionally the b6. Anything beyond that tends to be chromatic. The aim is to weave improvised licks around the main theme—check the TAB lesson for examples: Give Me the Night – Guitar Lesson with TAB.

Chorus

The chorus starts on the II chord, heads to the V, then drops back into the familiar minor blues loop:

| Bbm7 | Eb11 |
||: Fm7 Bbm7 | Cm7 Dbmaj7 :||

Bridge

Here’s where it gets interesting. The bridge begins on what would normally be the I chord (Ab), but we get a modal shift to Aeolian, turning Ab into Abm—now functioning as chord VI.

In simple terms, we’ve modulated from Fm to Abm. The chords move through VI – V – II – I:

||: Abm7 (VI) Gb (V) | Ebm7 (II) Db (I) :||

Then comes an unexpected Emaj7, giving a touch of Lydian flavour, followed by Db7—hinting at a Lydian dominant sound.

From there, it slides right back into the Fm groove. Don’t overthink this—just hold the chords through the bridge; when it’s time to solo, it’s back to F minor blues.

If George Benson can play this while roller-skating, you’ve got this! 😎

Here’s a chord chart to guide you.

Give Me The Night Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download

Here you can download my chord chart in two formats — a static PDF or an editable iReal Pro file.

With iReal Pro, you can easily change the key to fit your vocal range or band setup. It’s also great for jamming, as the app provides MIDI backing tracks in various styles—perfect for locking into that smooth George Benson groove.

Give Me The Night TAB | Course Preview

In the course, we explore a wide range of TAB examples, including transcriptions of George Benson’s original guitar parts, key horn lines, and even some newly created Nile Rodgers–style rhythm ideas.

Since much of the studio production won’t be present at a live gig, we need to fill out the arrangement while keeping things authentic to George’s smooth, improvisational style.

As a preview, here’s a TAB example of the main riff. Notice how the same phrase is constantly reinterpreted through slides, pull-offs, and subtle rhythmic variations—hallmarks of Benson’s fluid touch and jazz-funk phrasing.

Give Me The Night chords and TAB, main riff.

Give Me The Night Chords: Continue Learning

Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Give Me The Night (George Benson) Guitar Lesson with TAB.

Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy: