TempoPeek

Elvis Costello · My Aim Is True

Welcome to the Working Week

Welcome to the Working Week is in E major at 150.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

150 BPM · Allegromedian of 147 analyses · 150.2–150.4 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
96%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
147people who ran the extractor
One beat
399.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.28dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.933Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.197Essentia'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

147 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 96% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 147 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 150.3 BPM one beat lasts 399.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 99.8 ms and a dotted eighth 299.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 75.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 300.6. 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 3.28 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 0.933 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 E 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 E major

Each of these differs from E 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 150 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41596.80.63
Half note2798.41.25
Dotted quarter1.5598.81.67
Quarter note (one beat)1399.22.51
Quarter triplet0.667266.13.76
Dotted eighth0.75299.43.34
Eighth note0.5199.65.01
Eighth triplet0.333133.17.52
Dotted sixteenth0.375149.76.68
Sixteenth note0.2599.810.02
Sixteenth triplet0.16766.515.03
Thirty-second note0.12549.920.04

Half time 75.2 BPM · double time 300.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (399.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. AngelsRobbie WilliamsE major150BPM
  2. Let Me Down SlowlyAlec BenjaminE major150BPM
  3. Sentimental LadyFleetwood MacE major150BPM
  4. “The Take Over, the Breaks Over”Fall Out BoyE major150BPM
  5. Lonely StrangerEric ClaptonE major151BPM
  6. Tube Snake BoogieZZ TopE major151BPM
  7. (Don’t Go Back to) RockvilleR.E.M.E major151BPM
  8. Got My Mind Set on YouGeorge HarrisonE major149BPM
  9. Little ChildThe BeatlesE major152BPM
  10. The Last SongFoo FightersE major149BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 150 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 150 BPME major at 150–159 BPMElvis Costello

MusicBrainz collapses 7 recording ids into this one. Recording id dfa22b4f-0335-494b-bd3d-f6e2bf177701.