Cat Stevens · Teaser and the Firecat
How Can I Tell You
How Can I Tell You is in G major at 125.7 beats per minute.
Tempo
126 BPM · Allegromedian of 129 analyses · 125.7–125.9 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- G major1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 96%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 129people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 477.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 443.1Hz · +12 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.54dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.396Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 0.981Essentia'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
129 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 96% — put it in G major, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 129 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 125.7 BPM one beat lasts 477.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 119.3 ms and a dotted eighth 358 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 62.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 251.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 443.1 Hz, which is 12 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 5.54 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 0.396 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 G 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 G major
Each of these differs from G 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 126 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1909.3 | 0.52 |
| Half note | 2 | 954.7 | 1.05 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 716 | 1.4 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 477.3 | 2.1 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 318.2 | 3.14 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 358 | 2.79 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 238.7 | 4.19 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 159.1 | 6.29 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 179 | 5.59 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 119.3 | 8.38 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 79.6 | 12.57 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 59.7 | 16.76 |
Half time 62.9 BPM · double time 251.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (477.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- AmandaBostonG major126BPM
- Where the Streets Have No NameU2G major126BPM
- High FidelityDaft PunkG major126BPM
- Shame on MeAviciiG major126BPM
- A Man and a WomanU2G major126BPM
- SometimesDepeche ModeG major126BPM
- AishaJohn ColtraneG major125BPM
- Bad LoveEric ClaptonG major125BPM
- The Last ResortEaglesG major126BPM
- Not a Second TimeThe BeatlesG major125BPM
Recordings in G major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 126 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in G majorAll songs at 126 BPMG major at 120–129 BPMCat Stevens
MusicBrainz collapses 6 recording ids into this one. Recording id 5912eda1-6327-4e8e-bda5-84a2c00fd91b.