TempoPeek

Elvis Costello & The Attractions · Imperial Bedroom

Tears Before Bedtime

Tears Before Bedtime is in A major at 94.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

94 BPM · Andantemedian of 131 analyses · 93.9–94.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
100%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
131people who ran the extractor
One beat
637.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
442.5Hz · +10 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.65dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.912Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.19Essentia'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

131 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 131 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 94.1 BPM one beat lasts 637.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 159.4 ms and a dotted eighth 478.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 47.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 188.2. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 442.5 Hz, which is 10 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 4.65 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 0.912 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 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 A major

Each of these differs from A 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 94 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42550.50.39
Half note21275.20.78
Dotted quarter1.5956.41.05
Quarter note (one beat)1637.61.57
Quarter triplet0.667425.12.35
Dotted eighth0.75478.22.09
Eighth note0.5318.83.14
Eighth triplet0.333212.54.7
Dotted sixteenth0.375239.14.18
Sixteenth note0.25159.46.27
Sixteenth triplet0.167106.39.41
Thirty-second note0.12579.712.55

Half time 47.1 BPM · double time 188.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (637.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Young LustAerosmithA major94BPM
  2. Friday on My MindDavid BowieA major94BPM
  3. Weather With YouCrowded HouseA major94BPM
  4. AfricaD’AngeloA major95BPM
  5. MagicColdplayA major94BPM
  6. For Your LoveThe YardbirdsA major95BPM
  7. I’m Bound for the Promised LandJohnny CashA major95BPM
  8. Out on the TilesLed ZeppelinA major93BPM
  9. No Way BackFoo FightersA major93BPM
  10. Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise PollutionAC/DCA major95BPM

Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 94 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A majorAll songs at 94 BPMA major at 90–99 BPMElvis Costello & The Attractions

MusicBrainz collapses 2 recording ids into this one. Recording id c2257a39-4e1f-4b4d-bded-0f0ef5ed52ed.