Blackness of the Night

Author: Leonard Latest revision: May 1, 2022
Author’s Notes: In his own words the song was meant to be Cat’s “folkie protest song”. Like so many of his other songs at Decca, it unfortunately met the regrettable fate of being overarranged under Cat’s then producer Mike Hurst. The original 1967 recording also did not include Cat playing his own guitar, as was the norm at his years at Decca. With its strong, evocative lyrics, however, this song quickly became Cat’s favorite so much so that he re-imagined it for his 2017 album, The Laughing Apple, as part of a detour to Decca no less, and with a completely new sound. We completely retranscribed the song as per the new version.
Each guitar tab is the author’s own work and represents his or her own interpretation of the song.
Visitors may use the guitar tabs offered here only for private study, scholarship, or research.

                 
                 "Blackness of the Night"
              by Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam
                        
                from the original albums
                    NEW MASTERS (1967)
                          and
                THE LAUGHING APPLE (2017)

      
         The version transcribed here follows more 
            closely the 2017 version of the song.
   
  
Standard tuning
(low to high) E-A-D-G-B-E

in 4/4 time


INTRO

   C
   / . / . / . / .   / . / . / . / .
     u   u   u   u     u   u   u   u
E|-----------------|-----------------|
B|---1---1---1---1-|---1---1---1---1-|   Note:  When playing fingerstyle like Cat
G|---0---0---0---0-|---0---0---0---0-|          with the thumb and index only, the
D|-----------------|-----------------|          upstroke with the index hits both 
A|-3---3---3---3---|-3---3---3---3---|          treble strings at the same time.
E|-----------------|-----------------|


VERSE 1

           C             F/C              G             C
In the blackness of the night I seem to wander endless-ly
       (C)          F/C          G4  G
With a hope burning out deep in-side
        F/C           G          C     C/B  Am
I'm a fugitive, com-munity has driven  me   out
          F   F/D  F/C  G/B           C     C/B  Am!
For this bad, bad      world I'm be-ginning to  doubt
       C                 F/C          G4  G
I'm a-lone and there is no-one by my side


VERSE 2

           C             F/C            G             C
In the blackness of the night I see a shadow passing by
          (C)        F/C          G4  G
From the heels of an old soldier boy
                F/C      G                 C      C/B  Am
There's no compromising and his eyes are black as the sky
          F   F/D  F/C  G/B          C   C/B  Am!
For this bad, bad      world he is going to   die
        C                 F/C           G4  G
He's a-lone and there is no-one by his side


VERSE 3

           C             F/C             G           C
In the blackness of the night I see a sparkle of a star
          (C)         F/C         G4  G
From the sweet silver tear of a child
             F/C             G          C        C/B  Am
And she's clutching at a photograph of long, long   a-go
          F  F/D  F/C   G/B            C        C/B  Am!
When her pa-rents were happy, she was too young to  know
         C                 F/C           G4  G
She's a-lone and there is no-one by her side


INTERLUDE

   C      F/C        G       C                F/C        G4      G
   / . / . / . / .   / . / . / . / .   / . / . / . / .   / . / . / . / .   
     u   u   u   u     u   u   u   u     u   u   u   u     u   u   u   u
E|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
B|---1---1---1---1-|---0---0---1---1-|---1---1---1---1-|---1---1---0---0-|
G|---0---0---2---2-|---0---0---0---0-|---0---0---2---2-|---0---0---0---0-|
D|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
A|-3---3---3---3---|---------3---3---|-3---3---3---3---|-----------------|
E|-----------------|-3---3-----------|-----------------|-3---3---3---3---|

  F/C      G         C    /B Am        F /D /C G/B       C    /B Am  !
   / . / . / . / .   / . / . / . / .   / . / . / . / .   / . / . / . /   .    
     u   u   u   u     u       u   u     u       u   u     u         d u d
E|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-------------0-0-0---|
B|---1---1---0---0-|---1-------1---1-|---1-------0---0-|---1---------1-1-1---|
G|---2---2---0---0-|---0-------2---2-|---2-------0---0-|---0---------2-2-2---|
D|-----------------|-----------------|-3---0-----------|-------------2---2---|
A|-3---3-----------|-3---3-2-0---0---|-------3-2---2---|-3---3-2-0---0---0---|
E|---------3---3---|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------|

   C      F/C        G4                G
E|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
B|---1---1---1---1-|---1---1---1---1-|---0---0---0---0-|
G|---0---0---2---2-|---0---0---0---0-|---0---0---0---0-|
D|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
A|-3---3---3---3---|-----------------|-----------------|
E|-----------------|-3---3---3---3---|-3---3---3---3---|


REPEAT VERSE 1.


OUTRO

   C   Ab/Eb     F/C    Am       D
|  /  /  /  /  |  /  /  /  /  |  /  /  /  /  ||



CHORDS (in order of appearance)
======

   C      F/C      G      G4      C/B     Am
x32013  x33211  3x0003  3x0013  x20013  x02210
-RM-IL  -RLMII  R----L  R---IL  -M--IL  --MRI-

   F      F/D     G/B    Ab/Eb     D
x33211  xx0211  x20003  x66544  xx0232
-RLMII  ---MII  -M---L  -RLMII  ---IRM
 

Chord fingering:      T = thumb                
                      I = index finger
                      M = middle finger
                      R = ring finger
                      L = little finger

Tablature notation:   h = hammer-on
                      p = pull-off
                      ~ = vibrato
                    [ ] = natural harmonic (Harm.)
                      / = legato slide (gliss) up the fret
                      \ = legato slide (gliss) down the fret
                      ! = accentuate chord with great intensity
                      d = downward stroke
                      u = upward stroke

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