David Bowie · Station to Station
Stay
Stay is in D minor at 119.4 beats per minute.
Tempo
119 BPM · Moderatomedian of 188 analyses · 119.4–119.8 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 64%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 188people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 502.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.03dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.832Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.381Essentia'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
188 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 64% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 188 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 119.4 BPM one beat lasts 502.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 125.6 ms and a dotted eighth 376.9 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 59.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 238.8. A score would mark that Moderato, 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 5.03 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 0.832 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 D 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 D minor
Each of these differs from D 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 119 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2010.1 | 0.5 |
| Half note | 2 | 1005 | 1 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 753.8 | 1.33 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 502.5 | 1.99 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 335 | 2.99 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 376.9 | 2.65 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 251.3 | 3.98 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 167.5 | 5.97 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 188.4 | 5.31 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 125.6 | 7.96 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 83.8 | 11.94 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 62.8 | 15.92 |
Half time 59.7 BPM · double time 238.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (502.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
The same title by somebody else
Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.
Closest in key and tempo
- The Man Who Sold the WorldDavid BowieD minor119BPM
- 3 A.M. Eternal (live at the S.S.L.)The KLFD minor119BPM
- Telegraph RoadDire StraitsD minor120BPM
- Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)ABBAD minor120BPM
- Revolution 9The BeatlesD minor120BPM
- ShowerBecky GD minor120BPM
- Roller SkateNatasha BedingfieldD minor120BPM
- RunAirD minor120BPM
- Beautiful, Dirty, RichLady GagaD minor120BPM
- One TribeThe Black Eyed PeasD minor120BPM
Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 119 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D minorAll songs at 119 BPMD minor at 110–119 BPMDavid Bowie
MusicBrainz collapses 95 recording ids into this one. Recording id 81761085-6179-486d-a90f-a7e751a90511.