Leonard Cohen · Songs From a Room

Bird on the Wire

Bird on the Wire is in A major at 129.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

129 BPM · Allegromedian of 135 analyses · 129–129.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
97%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
135people who ran the extractor
One beat
464milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441.5Hz · +6 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.89dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.886Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.131Essentia'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

135 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 135 readings; 96% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 129.3 BPM one beat lasts 464 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 116 ms and a dotted eighth 348 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 64.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 258.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.5 Hz, which is 6 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 2.89 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 0.886 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 129 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41856.10.54
Half note2928.11.08
Dotted quarter1.5696.11.44
Quarter note (one beat)14642.16
Quarter triplet0.667309.43.23
Dotted eighth0.753482.87
Eighth note0.52324.31
Eighth triplet0.333154.76.47
Dotted sixteenth0.3751745.75
Sixteenth note0.251168.62
Sixteenth triplet0.16777.312.93
Thirty-second note0.1255817.24

Half time 64.7 BPM · double time 258.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (464 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Here Comes the SunThe BeatlesA major129BPM
  2. Look Back in AngerDavid BowieA major129BPM
  3. Hang ’Em HighVan HalenA major129BPM
  4. JetPaul McCartney & WingsA major129BPM
  5. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Jess and Crabbe Regulator mix)Daft PunkA major129BPM
  6. Green EyesColdplayA major130BPM
  7. No More Mr. Nice GuyAlice CooperA major129BPM
  8. It’s Only Rock ’n’ RollThe Rolling StonesA major129BPM
  9. Hammer to FallQueenA major129BPM
  10. Zoo StationU2A major129BPM

Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 129 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A majorAll songs at 129 BPMA major at 120–129 BPMLeonard Cohen

MusicBrainz collapses 65 recording ids into this one. Recording id a7e15f12-ea5c-4f4a-85e8-22d7eb7fad2c.