Beck · Sea Change

Paper Tiger

Paper Tiger is in A minor at 143.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

144 BPM · Allegromedian of 142 analyses · 143.4–143.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
99%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
142people who ran the extractor
One beat
418.1milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.56dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.759Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.038Essentia'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

142 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 142 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 143.5 BPM one beat lasts 418.1 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 104.5 ms and a dotted eighth 313.6 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 71.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 287. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 cents below 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 4.56 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 0.759 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 A minor; 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 A minor

Each of these differs from A minor 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 144 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41672.50.6
Half note2836.21.2
Dotted quarter1.5627.21.59
Quarter note (one beat)1418.12.39
Quarter triplet0.667278.73.59
Dotted eighth0.75313.63.19
Eighth note0.5209.14.78
Eighth triplet0.333139.47.18
Dotted sixteenth0.375156.86.38
Sixteenth note0.25104.59.57
Sixteenth triplet0.16769.714.35
Thirty-second note0.12552.319.13

Half time 71.8 BPM · double time 287 BPM. Every row is one beat (418.1 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Suffragette CityDavid BowieA minor144BPM
  2. Put Your Lights OnSantana featuring EverlastA minor144BPM
  3. Susie QDale HawkinsA minor144BPM
  4. High FidelityElvis Costello & The AttractionsA minor144BPM
  5. Dachau BluesCaptain Beefheart & His Magic BandA minor143BPM
  6. Trouble No MoreThe Allman Brothers BandA minor143BPM
  7. Turn Your Lights Down LowBob Marley & The WailersA minor143BPM
  8. Morning BellRadioheadA minor142BPM
  9. [White Blur 1]Aphex TwinA minor142BPM
  10. Can’t Hold UsMacklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray DaltonA minor146BPM

Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 144 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A minorAll songs at 144 BPMA minor at 140–149 BPMBeck

MusicBrainz collapses 5 recording ids into this one. Recording id 2bf8f547-057d-4be0-82ef-f19a2e3ac402.