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
| Bbm7 | Eb11 |
‘Cause there’s music in the air and lots of lovin’ everywhere.
| Fm7 Bbm7 | Cm7 Dbmaj7 |
So give me the night (alright, tonight).
| Fm7 Bbm7 | Cm7 Dbmaj7 |
Give me the night (every night).
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
Great news—Give Me the Night isn’t nearly as difficult as it might seem at first listen. In fact, it’s pretty simple!
The main chord progression follows VI – II – III – IV. In the key of Fm, that’s:
||: Fm7 (VI) Bbm7 (II) | Cm7 (III) Dbmaj7 (IV) :||
I like to think of Give Me the Night’s chords as just a minor blues—as once I did, everything clicked. Compare it with Ain’t No Sunshine or The Thrill Is Gone, and you’ll soon feel more at home.
Once I saw the connection, I simply solo using the F minor blues scale. For me, that means F minor pentatonic as a base, adding the 9, b5, and major 7—maybe even the b6. Anything beyond that is just chromatic passing notes.
Now, let’s focus on the chords…
Chorus
The chorus starts on the II chord, moves to the V, then falls back into the minor blues loop:
| Bbm7 | Eb11 |
||: Fm7 Bbm7 | Cm7 Dbmaj7 :||
Bridge
The bridge begins on what should be the I chord (Ab), but instead, there’s a modal interchange to Aeolian, turning Ab into Abm, making it chord VI in this new context.
Put simply, you can think of it as a shift from Fm to Abm. The progression follows VI – V – II – I:
||: Abm7 (VI) Gb (V) | Ebm7 (II) Db (I) :||
Next comes an Emaj7, which has a distinct Lydian flavour, followed by Db7, which likely suggests Lydian Dominant—essentially Db Lydian with a b7 instead of a maj7.
Then, we return to Emaj7, followed by Eb11, before diving back into the minor blues loop:
| Abm7 Gb | Emaj7 | Db7 |
| Emaj7 | Eb11 |
Final Thoughts
Before you start thinking, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, remember this: you don’t have to solo over the bridge chords—you just hold them while the singer takes the lead.
When it’s time to solo, it’s just F minor blues—told you it wasn’t as tough as it seemed!
Look at George—he’s roller-skating while playing it! 😎 Here’s a chord chart!
Give Me The Night Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
You can download my chord chart as a static PDF or in the iReal Pro format:
Give Me The Night Chords | Related Pages
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
