Rock With You | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| Ebm9 | Ab Bb | Ebm9 | Ab B |
| Ebm9 | Ab Bb | Ab11 Ab | Ab11 Ab |
Verse 1
||: Ebm9 | Ab | Bb11 | Bb11 :||
Girl, close your eyes, let that rhythm get into you.
Don’t try to fight it, there ain’t nothing that you can do.
Bridge 1
| Gbmaj7 | Fm7 | Bmaj7 | Ab11 |
Relax your mind, lay back and groove with mine.
| Ebm7 Fm7 Gbmaj7 | N.C |
You gotta feel that heat and we can ride the boogie.
| Ebm7 Fm7 Gbmaj7 G | Ab |
Share that beat of love.
Chorus 1
| Ebm9 | Ab Bb |
I wanna rock with you (all night).
| Ebm9 | Ab B |
Dance you into day (sunlight).
| Ebm9 | Ab Bb |
I wanna rock with you (all night).
| Ab11 Ab | Ab11 Ab |
We’re gonna rock the night away.
Verse 2
Out on the floor, there ain’t nobody there but us.
Girl, when you dance, there’s a magic that must be love.
Bridge 2
Just take it slow, ’cause we got so far to go.
When you feel that heat and we’re gonna ride the boogie.
Share that beat of love.
Chorus 2
I wanna rock with you (all night).
Dance you into day (sunlight).
I wanna rock with you (all night).
We gon’ rock the night away.
Middle 8
| Bbm7 | Bbm7 | Eb9 | Eb9 |
And when the groove is dead and gone (yeah).
| Gbmaj7 | Fm7 | Bmaj7 | Ab11 |
You know that love survives, so we can rock forever, on.
Solo
| Ebm9 | Ab Bb | Ebm9 | Ab B |
| Ebm9 | Ab Bb | Ab Bb Db | Db | Db |
I wanna rock with you, I wanna groove with you.
Solo 2nd half
| Ebm9 | Ab Bb | Ebm9 | Ab B |
| Ebm9 | Ab Bb Db | Db | Db D |
I wanna rock with you, I wanna groove with you.
Chorus 3 (key change)
| Em9 | A B |
I Wanna rock (all night),
| Em9 | A C |
With you, girl (sunlight).
| Em9 | A B |
Rock with you, rock with you, yeah (all night).
| A11 A | A11 A |
Dance the night away (rock, right).
Chorus 4 (as chorus 3)
I wanna rock with you, yeah (all night).
Rock you into day (sunlight).
I wanna rock with you (all night).
Rock the night away (rock, right)
Outro (as chorus 3)
Feel the heat, feel the beat (all night). Woo.
Rock you into day (sunlight).
I wanna rock (all night).
Rock the night away (rock, right).
Rock With You Chords: Learn the progressions
I’d like to compare Rock With You with I Heard It Through the Grapevine—not because they share a key or style, but because their chord movements are strikingly similar. Both feature two major chords a tone apart (Ab and Bb), resolving to an Ebm. The key difference is in the order: Rock With You moves IV – V, whereas Grapevine moves V – IV. Either way, it’s no surprise this progression earned the #2 spot on my top 10 list.
Interestingly, the Ab11 breaks traditional harmonic rules—normally, the IV chord carries a #11. But who are we to argue with Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton, and Michael Jackson?
In the chorus variation, the shift to a B chord instead of Bb makes Ebm feel like chord VI (Aeolian). However, when moving from Ebm to Ab, it feels like chord II (Dorian). This interplay—balancing between VI and II—is a classic songwriting trick, also found in Master Blaster and Never Too Much.
Now, let’s look at the bridge:
| Gbmaj7 | Fm7 | Bmaj7 | Ab11 |
From a Db major perspective, Gbmaj7 is IV, Fm7 is III, and Ab11 is V—but where does Bmaj7 fit? It’s the wildcard, much like the Fm7 in Sir Duke. Sometimes, you just have to step back and appreciate the genius of it.
The middle eight then shifts again, introducing Bbm7, which reinforces Ebm9 as a solid centre—until, unexpectedly, we get Eb9 instead! Just when it all seems to make sense, they flip the script again.
From here, the bridge progression repeats, followed by a solo over the chorus changes. The section eventually ends on a Db instead of Ab11.
There’s a completely genius arrangement details here; the Db chord starts on beat 4, then gets two bars, effectively having 9 beats before we repeat.
After the repeat, the final bar has two beats of D, meaning that Db is appearing for 7 beats, talk about building momentum, the listener is now gagging for what is about to happen next!
To cap it all off, the final chorus modulates up a semitone, moving from Ebm to Em. And that brings us back to the big question: is Ebm Dorian or Aeolian? The answer is—both.
Here’s a chord chart for Rock With You.
Rock With You Backing Track | Chord Chart
(PDF + iReal Pro)
At the top of this page you find two backing tracks for Rock With You, I made these using AI to remove the chords so you can play them instead. The second backing track has the vocal left in.
PLay along to these using the chord chart to prepare yourself for playing this awesome tune with a band
You can download my chord chart for Rock With You as a PDF, as well as in the iReal Pro format. It took me forever to get this one right, feel free to share it with your band members so you all play the correct chords.
Rock With You was Disco!
By 1979, Michael Jackson had reached a turning point in his extraordinary career. After growing up in The Jackson 5, he launched his solo career under the guidance of Quincy Jones.
His first album, Off the Wall, produced two major singles: Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough and the track we’re focusing on here—Rock With You.
At the time, disco was still at its peak, and Rock With You firmly belongs in that genre. The song reached #1 in the U.S. and charted highly in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the U.K. Decades later, it remains a radio staple, a favourite among DJs, and—most importantly for you—a go-to cover for live bands.
The song’s chords are deceptively intricate, and playing them correctly makes a huge difference. As you study the chords, lyrics and chord chart above, take the time to get them just right!
Rock With You Chords | Related Pages
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Michael Jackson tunes
The King of Pop became world-famous before he was even a teenager as he signed to Motown with his brothers as The Jackson 5.
After many hits, Michael Jackson embarked on a crazy solo career that would see him become as big as Elvis and The Beatles.
Michael Jackson on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Rock With You‘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.