“Reach Out of the Darkness” is a song recorded and released by the American folk duo Friend & Lover. Peaking at #10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, it was the duo’s most successful single, and they are often regarded as a one-hit wonder for the selection. This is mainly because the duo’s only other Hot 100 entry (“If Love is in Your Heart”) stalled at #86 a few months later. The title never appears as such in the recording, though the nine mentions of “Reach Out in the Darkness” come close.

The song was written and composed by James “Jim” Post, who together with his then-wife Catherine “Cathy” Post nee Conn comprised the duo Friend & Lover. It was recorded in Nashville for the Verve Forecast label. Ray Stevens played keyboards and arranged the strings, with Joe South and Bill Lowery producing. The Verve Records Discography has a completely different account of the song and its flip "Time On Your Side (You're Only 15 Years Old)" being recorded in New York City on 23 August 1967, with the sides reversed, and "If Love Is In Your Heart" recorded the same day. The 1969 follow-up album, also titled Reach Out of the Darkness, was recorded in Atlanta and produced by Buddy Buie.

The song was featured in a 1999 television commercial by Milton Bradley for their Get-Together Games; it can also be heard in the 1988 film 1969 and in the TV series Night Stalker (episode 6) and Beverly Hills, 90210: "The Time Has Come Today" (season 4, episode 25). The track was used in the closing scene and credits on the AMC series Mad Men: "A Man With a Plan" (season 6, episode 7). The scene in question was June 1968, when the news of Robert Kennedy's assassination was breaking on television, with characters watching the story unfold in stunned silence, some weeping. The song continued to play, superimposed over audio of the news reports from the assassination, during the closing credits.

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