Eagles · Desperado

Desperado

Desperado is in G major at 120.8 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

121 BPM · Allegromedian of 449 analyses · 117.9–122.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
G major1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
97%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
449people who ran the extractor
One beat
496.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
436.2Hz · -15 cents from A 440
Dynamics
7.4dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.143Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
0.955Essentia'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

449 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in G major, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 449 readings; 89% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 117.9 to 122.3 BPM.

At 120.8 BPM one beat lasts 496.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 124.2 ms and a dotted eighth 372.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 60.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 241.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 436.2 Hz, which is 15 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 7.4 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 0.143 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 121 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41986.80.5
Half note2993.41.01
Dotted quarter1.57451.34
Quarter note (one beat)1496.72.01
Quarter triplet0.667331.13.02
Dotted eighth0.75372.52.68
Eighth note0.5248.34.03
Eighth triplet0.333165.66.04
Dotted sixteenth0.375186.35.37
Sixteenth note0.25124.28.05
Sixteenth triplet0.16782.812.08
Thirty-second note0.12562.116.11

Half time 60.4 BPM · double time 241.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (496.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. DesperadoAlice CooperF major122BPM

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

  1. Wish You Were HerePink FloydG major121BPM
  2. CupidSam CookeG major121BPM
  3. TopazThe B‐52sG major121BPM
  4. Come as You AreNirvanaG major121BPM
  5. Please Mr. PostmanThe MarvelettesG major121BPM
  6. Where Have All the Good Times GoneDavid BowieG major120BPM
  7. Around the WorldDaft PunkG major121BPM
  8. If You LeaveOrchestral Manoeuvres in the DarkG major120BPM
  9. Around the World (radio edit)Daft PunkG major121BPM
  10. Last Train to LondonElectric Light OrchestraG major121BPM

Recordings in G major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 121 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in G majorAll songs at 121 BPMG major at 120–129 BPMEagles

MusicBrainz collapses 57 recording ids into this one. Recording id 96308d6d-77c8-48d6-b866-bdc48675ef10.