Aretha Franklin · Spirit in the Dark
Why I Sing the Blues
Why I Sing the Blues is in B flat major at 129.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
130 BPM · Allegromedian of 146 analyses · 129.9–130.1 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- B♭ major2 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 82%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 146people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 461.9milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 442Hz · +8 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.47dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.581Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.121Essentia's danceability, 0–3
Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.
What the numbers say
146 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 82% — put it in B flat major, a key signature of 2 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 146 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 129.9 BPM one beat lasts 461.9 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 115.5 ms and a dotted eighth 346.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 65 BPM, counted twice as fast 259.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 442 Hz, which is 8 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — the sort of drift a tape machine or a slightly different mastering leaves behind. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.
The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 4.47 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.581 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.
10 other recordings here are in B flat major; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.
Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Keys that fit with B♭ major
Each of these differs from B♭ major by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.
Delay times at 130 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1847.6 | 0.54 |
| Half note | 2 | 923.8 | 1.08 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 692.8 | 1.44 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 461.9 | 2.17 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 307.9 | 3.25 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 346.4 | 2.89 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 230.9 | 4.33 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 154 | 6.5 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 173.2 | 5.77 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 115.5 | 8.66 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 77 | 12.99 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 57.7 | 17.32 |
Half time 65 BPM · double time 259.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (461.9 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Love BitesDef LeppardB♭ major130BPM
- Man Next DoorMassive AttackB♭ major130BPM
- Somebody to LoveJustin BieberB♭ major130BPM
- I’ll Never Love AgainTaio CruzB♭ major130BPM
- Broken BonesCHVRCHESB♭ major130BPM
- Feel the Same Way I DoDestiny’s ChildB♭ major130BPM
- It’s Oh So QuietBjörkB♭ major130BPM
- Get Up and JumpThe Red Hot Chili PeppersB♭ major130BPM
- I Can’t Be With YouThe CranberriesB♭ major129BPM
- Take a BowMuseB♭ major131BPM
Recordings in B flat major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 130 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in B flat majorAll songs at 130 BPMB♭ major at 120–129 BPMAretha Franklin
MusicBrainz collapses 1 recording id into this one. Recording id 9ed4a614-dbc7-4b51-9502-c23651e4a13d.