I Wanna Dance With Somebody chords by Whitney Houston


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I Wanna Dance With Somebody | Chords + Lyrics


Intro

||: Gb (bass + drums) :|| x6
Ah, yeah, woah!
| Gb | Gbadd9 | Gb | Gbadd9 |
Hey yeah, ha.
| Ebm | Ebmadd4 | B | Ab9 Db Gb | Gb | Gbadd9 Db |
Oh yeah. Ah-ha, yeah, I wanna dance.

Verse 1

| Db | Db | Ebm | Ebm |
Clock strikes upon the hour and the sun begins to fade.
| Db | Db | Ebm | Ebm |
Still enough time to figure out how to chase my blues away.
| B | Db | Gb | B |
I’ve done alright up to now, it’s the light of day that shows me how.
| Abm B | Db | B Bb B Db N.C |
And when the night falls, loneliness calls.

Chorus 1

| Gb | Gb | Gb | Gb |
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat with somebody.
| Ebm | Ebm | B | Abm7 Db |
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.
| Gb | Gb | Gb | Gb |
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat with somebody.
| Ebm | Ebm | B | Abm7 Db | Gb | Gbadd9 Gb |
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.

Verse 2

I’ve been in love and lost my senses, spinning through the town.
Sooner or later, the fever ends and I wind up feeling down.
I need a man who’ll take a chance on a love that burns hot enough to last.
So when the night falls, my lonely heart calls.

Chorus 2

Oh, I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat with somebody.
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat.
| Ebm | Ebm | B | Abm7 Db |
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.

Middle 8

| Ebm (Ebm7) | Ebm (Ebm7) | Db | Db Db6 |
(Somebody who, somebody who). Somebody who loves me yeah.
| Ebm (Ebm7) | Ebm (Ebm7) | Db | Db |
(Somebody who, somebody who). To hold me in his arms, Lord.
| Abm | Db | Gb/Bb | B |
I need a man who’ll take a chance, on a love that burns hot enough to last.
| Abm B | Db | B Bb B Db N.C |
So when the night falls, my lonely heart calls.

Chorus 3 (key change)

| Ab | Ab | Ab | Ab |
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat with somebody.
| Fm | Fm | Db | Bbm7 Eb6 |
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.
| Ab | Ab | Ab | Ab |
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat with somebody.
| Fm | Fm | Db | Bbm7 Eb6 |
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.

Breakdown

||: Ab Ab6 | Ab | Ab Ab6 | Ab :||
Oh-oh, whoa! (Dance) come on baby, haha (dance).
Whoa! Yeah (dance), now give me this, haha, whoa oh oh oh (dance).

Chorus 4

Don’t you wanna dance (dance), with me baby? Don’t you wanna dance (dance), with me boy?
Hey, don’t you wanna dance (dance), with me baby? With somebody who loves me.
Don’t you wanna dance, say you wanna dance, don’t you wanna dance (dance)? Don’t you wanna dance, say you wanna dance, don’t you wanna dance (dance)?
Don’t you wanna dance, say you wanna dance, a-ha (dance), with somebody who loves me.

End

| Ab | Ab | Ab | Ab |
Oh oh oh (dance) oh oh oh (dance).
| Fm | Fm | Db | Bbm7 Eb6 | Ab (fade) |
Oh oh oh (dance Hey baby! (Dance).



I Wanna Dance With Somebody Chords: Learn the progressions


Apart from being in the awkward key of Gb, later modulating to Ab, I Wanna Dance With Somebody uses a really simple chord progression. Let’s break it down, starting with the intro:

||: Gb (bass + drums) :|| x6
| Gb | Gb | Gb | Gb |
| Ebm | Ebm | B | Ab9 Db Gb | Gb | Gbadd9 |

During the intro, when only the drums and bass are playing, the bass line alternates between the root and the 6th. This subtle detail creates a sense of familiarity before the progression even kicks in—genius!

Once the chords start, the progression follows IVIIV, then moves to IIx VI—told you it was simple!

I’ve transcribed many of the synth parts and adapted them for guitar so you could even perform this as a trio. Here’s a link: I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Guitar Lesson + TAB.

Now, let’s look at the verse:

||: Db | Db | Ebm | Ebm :||
| B | Db | Gb | B |
| Abm B | Db | B Bb B Db N.C |

The verse progression repeats VVI, followed by IVVIIV, and finishes with IIV. The final chromatic movement is IVIIIxIVV. Simple enough, but the key makes it look trickier than it is.

If you’re struggling to visualise the changes, try transposing it to G—you’ll see just how straightforward it really is! It’s fascinating how much easier it is to see the Roman numerals in a more familiar key.



I Wanna Dance With Somebody – The Chorus and the Key Change

The chorus follows almost the same progression as the intro, with just a simpler II – V before the repeat.

The middle 8 is a masterstroke—flipping the Db – Ebm7 verse chords around and then leading into the second half of the verse. It looks like this:

| Ebm (Ebm7) | Ebm (Ebm7) | Db | Db Db6 |
| Ebm | Ebm | Db | Db |
| Abm | Db | Gb/Bb | B |
| Abm B | Db | B Bb B Db N.C |

If you want the whole world to sing along to your song, you need clever little twists like this.

Think of it as guiding a plane to land while a five-year-old is at the controls—you have to be super clear in your instructions!

After this subtle shift, what’s the next move? Keep it simple but build momentum—by shifting everything up a tone! Here’s the key change to Ab:

||: Ab | Ab | Ab | Ab |
| Fm | Fm | Db | Bbm7 Eb6 :||

Before launching into the final chorus, there’s a breakdown section over a static Ab for eight bars (check the TAB lesson!). From there, it’s just a big chorus to fade.

The real variation? It’s all in the vocals—because Whitney is the star of the show, not the chords (strange concept, I know…).

Here’s a chord chart that will make perfect sense after studying the TAB.


I Wanna Dance With Somebody chord chart.


I Wanna Dance With Somebody Backing Track | Chord Chart (PDF + iReal Pro)


At the top of this page, you’ll find two backing tracks for I Wanna Dance With Somebody. I used AI to extract the chords while keeping the drums, bass, and vocals intact. The second track includes vocals.

Use the backing track to get ready for playing I Wanna Dance With Somebody with a band.

I could have made the chord chart easier to read by spacing out the bars, but then it wouldn’t have fit on a single page. If you’d like to download it, here’s a PDF: I Wanna Dance With Somebody Chord Chart PDF.

This chart was created using iRealPro, and you can find the file here: I Wanna Dance With Somebody iReal Pro.

With the iRealPro app, you can change the key—try it in G with a guitar tuned down a semitone, it’ll blow your mind! You can also tweak the arrangement layout, maybe even spread it across two pages.



I Wanna Dance With Somebody Chords | Related Pages


I Wanna Dance With Somebody | Guitar Lesson + TAB

I Wanna Dance With Somebody TAB lesson.

With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston using TAB and chord analysis.

| Db | Db | Ebm7 | Ebm7 |
Clock strikes upon the hour and the sun begins to fade.


Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics

When you can play I Wanna Dance With Somebody's chords, try these five tunes from the songbook.


Whitney Houston tunes

Whitney Houston sang I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

Over her twenty-five-year career, Whitney Houston became known as The Voice voted the 2nd best female singer of all time.

Her biggest tunes include I Wanna Dance With Somebody, How Will I Know, Greatest Love Of All, Higher Love, and I Will Always Love You.


Whitney Houston on the web

Listen to Whitney Houston on Spotify.


About me | Dan Lundholm

Dan Lundholm wrote this guitar lesson on I Wanna Dance With Somebody's chords.

This was a guitar lesson about I Wanna Dance With Somebody‘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 by practising scales or studying theory in isolation.


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