Florence + the Machine · How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

Mother

Mother is in D major at 155.6 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

156 BPM · Allegromedian of 165 analyses · 155.5–155.7 across the middle eight tenths
Key
D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
100%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
165people who ran the extractor
One beat
385.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.1dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.644Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.023Essentia'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

165 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 165 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 155.6 BPM one beat lasts 385.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 96.4 ms and a dotted eighth 289.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 77.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 311.2. 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 5.1 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 0.644 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 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 D major

Each of these differs from D 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 156 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41542.40.65
Half note2771.21.3
Dotted quarter1.5578.41.73
Quarter note (one beat)1385.62.59
Quarter triplet0.667257.13.89
Dotted eighth0.75289.23.46
Eighth note0.5192.85.19
Eighth triplet0.333128.57.78
Dotted sixteenth0.375144.66.92
Sixteenth note0.2596.410.37
Sixteenth triplet0.16764.315.56
Thirty-second note0.12548.220.75

Half time 77.8 BPM · double time 311.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (385.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. MotherPink FloydC major135BPM

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. GardenPearl JamD major156BPM
  2. HomesickThe CureD major156BPM
  3. Crystal BallStyxD major156BPM
  4. Stand by Your SideCéline DionD major155BPM
  5. ChangeBlind MelonD major155BPM
  6. BodiesSex PistolsD major155BPM
  7. I Feel the SameBonnie RaittD major155BPM
  8. Thinking Out LoudEd SheeranD major156BPM
  9. Teach Your ChildrenCrosby, Stills, Nash & YoungD major155BPM
  10. Whip ItDEVOD major156BPM

Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 156 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in D majorAll songs at 156 BPMD major at 150–159 BPMFlorence + the Machine

MusicBrainz collapses 2 recording ids into this one. Recording id 71faae77-de36-462f-9234-582a13f3f404.