Detroit After Dark

Key: G minor
Tempo: 78 BPM – smooth, slow-burn funk with deep bass, smoky keys, and bluesy guitar licks
Style: Late-night soul-funk, with Motown nods and cinematic atmosphere

[Verse 1]

Gm – Eb – Bb – F
Streetlights flicker down Woodward Ave
Jazz spills out from a dive that still feels brave
Tires hum low on the wet concrete
And I swear I hear ghosts in the beat

Gm – Eb – D7
She said goodbye like a Motown fade
Left perfume and memories in her parade

[Chorus]

Bb – F – Gm – Eb
Detroit after dark, where the lonely hearts park
Neon signs hum tunes from the past
She left with the smoke, I stayed with the spark
Still chasing her shadow in glass

Bb – F – Gm – Eb
Midnight drives, no end in sight
Love once alive, now lost to night
In the city that birthed a sound so stark
I’m still dreamin’… Detroit after dark

[Verse 2]

Gm – Eb – Bb – F
There's a saxophone cry near 8 Mile and Main
Sings the truth better than I ever could explain
Every heartbreak here’s been sung before
But damn if mine don’t want one more

Gm – Eb – D7
She danced like vinyl in a record store
Then vanished like she knew what was in store

[Chorus]

Bb – F – Gm – Eb
Detroit after dark, where the jukebox bleeds
Soul in the cracks and rhythm in the weeds
I watch the skyline, I replay her spark
But I only get silence... Detroit after dark

[Bridge – Spoken or softly sung]

Cm – Bb – D7
“Baby,” I said, “we’re better than this.”
She just smiled, then blew one last kiss
Like smoke through the mirror, she was gone
Now I just walk where we once belonged

[Final Chorus – slow, emotional build]

Bb – F – Gm – Eb
Detroit after dark, where the echoes cry
And the vinyl skips but the needle tries
Every light is a memory, every alley’s a mark
Where I still search for you…
In Detroit after dark

[Outro – Instrumental Groove]

(Saxophone solo over Gm – Eb – Bb – F)
(Fade with distant club music and city sounds...)

©Copyright 2025. Gold Shield Publishing Inc
Writer: Songsmith