I Wanna Dance With Somebody | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: Gb (bass + drums) :|| x6
Ah, yeah, woah!
| Gb | Gb | Gb | Gb |
Hey yeah, ha.
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Bmaj7 | Abm7 Db | Gb | Gb (Gbadd9) |
Oh yeah. Ah-ha, yeah, I wanna dance.
Verse 1
| Db | Db | Ebm7 | Ebm7 |
Clock strikes upon the hour and the sun begins to fade.
| Db | Db | Ebm7 | Ebm7 |
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.
| Abm7 B | Db | B Bb B Db |
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.
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Bmaj7 | 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.
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Bmaj7 | Abm7 Db | Gb | Gb (Gbadd9) |
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.
Verse 2
| Db | Db | Ebm7 | Ebm7 |
I’ve been in love and lost my senses, spinning through the town.
| Db | Db | Ebm7 | Ebm7 |
Sooner or later, the fever ends and I wind up feeling down.
| B | Db | Gb | B |
I need a man who’ll take a chance on a love that burns hot enough to last.
| Abm7 B | Db | B Bb B Db |
So when the night falls, my lonely heart calls.
Chorus 2
| Gb | Gb | Gb | Gb |
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat with somebody.
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Bmaj7 | 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.
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Bmaj7 | Abm7 Db |
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.
Middle 8
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Db | Db |
(Somebody who, somebody who). Somebody who loves me yeah.
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Db | Db |
(Somebody who, somebody who). To hold me in his arms, Lord.
| B | Db | Gb | 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 |
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.
| Fm7 | Fm7 | Db | Bbm7 Eb |
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.
| Fm7 | Fm7 | Db | Bbm7 Eb |
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.
Breakdown
| Ab | Ab | Ab | Ab |
Oh-oh, whoa! (Dance) come on baby, haha (dance).
| Ab | Ab | Ab | Ab |
Whoa! Yeah (dance), now give me this, haha, whoa oh oh oh (dance).
Chorus 4
| Ab | Ab | Ab | Ab |
Don’t you wanna dance (dance), with me baby? Don’t you wanna dance (dance), with me boy?
| Fm7 | Fm7 | Db | Bbm7 Eb |
Hey, don’t you wanna dance (dance), with me baby? With somebody who loves me.
| Ab | Ab |
Don’t you wanna dance, say you wanna dance, don’t you wanna dance (dance)?
| Ab | Ab |
Don’t you wanna dance, say you wanna dance, don’t you wanna dance (dance)?
| Fm7 | Fm7 |
Don’t you wanna dance, say you wanna dance, a-ha (dance).
| Db | Bbm7 Eb |
With somebody who loves me.
End
| Ab | Ab | Ab | Ab |
Oh oh oh (dance) oh oh oh (dance)
| Fm7 | Fm7 | Db | Bbm7 Eb | Ab (fade) |
Oh oh oh (dance Hey baby! (Dance)
I Wanna Dance With Somebody’s chords and progressions
Apart from being in the awkward key of Gb and later Ab, I Wanna Dance With Somebody’s chords are actually really, really simple. Let’s analyze each section, starting with the intro.
||: Gb (bass + drums) :|| x6
| Gb | Gb | Gb | Gb |
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Bmaj7 | Abm7 Db | Gb | Gb (Gbadd9) |
The bass line when there are only drums uses the 6th interval as well as the root. This may seem like a small detail but when the progression actually kicks in and we move to chord VI, our brain is already experiencing familiarity, genius.
Once there is an actual progression we go: I – VI – IV, followed by II – V – I, I told you it was simple!
Let’s move on, below are I Wanna Dance With Somebody’s verse chords: V – VI on repeat, IV – V – I – IV, and finally, II – IV – V.
The last chromatic movement is IV – IIIx – IV – V. Again it’s really simple, just the key is unusual, looks like this.
| Db | Db | Ebm7 | Ebm7 |
| Db | Db | Ebm7 | Ebm7 |
| B | Db | Gb | B |
| Abm7 B | Db | B Bb B Db |
Ensure you can see, hear and feel the changes as Roman Numerals. If you can’t, translate this to the key of G instead.
The chorus is the same as the intro. The middle 8 is a true master stroke as we flip the verse chords from Db – Ebm7 around, then use the second half of the verse, like this:
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Db | Db |
| Ebm7 | Ebm7 | Db | Db |
| B | Db | Gb | B |
| Abm B | Db | B Bb B Db |
If you want the entire world to sing along with your tune, you need clever little twists like this. Think of it as if you’re landing a plain and a five-year-old is in control. You have to be super clear in your instructions.
Compare the verse progression with the middle 8 and you’ll see how it really can’t be any simpler.
Following this micro change, what can we do to again keep it simple, but still develop I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ chords? Change the key up a tone! Here it is in the key of Ab:
||: Ab | Ab | Ab | Ab |
| Fm7 | Fm7 | Db | Bbm7 Eb :||
Before we play this again, there’s a breakdown section over a static Ab chord for 8 bars, then it’s just another chorus to fade.
The variation is in the vocal because Whitney Houston is the star of the show, not the chords.
I Wanna Dance With Somebody chords | Related pages
I Wanna Dance With Somebody – 5 similar tunes
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Whitney Houston
Over her twenty-five-year career, Whitney 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
