TempoPeek

Leonard Cohen · New Skin for the Old Ceremony

Take This Longing

Take This Longing is in F major at 147.4 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

147 BPM · Allegromedian of 131 analyses · 140.2–147.7 across the middle eight tenths
Key
F major1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
89%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
131people who ran the extractor
One beat
407.1milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
439.7Hz · -1 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.97dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.483Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.046Essentia'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. Most of them — 89% — put it in F major, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 131 readings; 77% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 140.2 to 147.7 BPM.

At 147.4 BPM one beat lasts 407.1 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 101.8 ms and a dotted eighth 305.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 73.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 294.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439.7 Hz, which is 1 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 4.97 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 0.483 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 F 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 F major

Each of these differs from F 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 147 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41628.20.61
Half note2814.11.23
Dotted quarter1.5610.61.64
Quarter note (one beat)1407.12.46
Quarter triplet0.667271.43.69
Dotted eighth0.75305.33.28
Eighth note0.5203.54.91
Eighth triplet0.333135.77.37
Dotted sixteenth0.375152.66.55
Sixteenth note0.25101.89.83
Sixteenth triplet0.16767.814.74
Thirty-second note0.12550.919.65

Half time 73.7 BPM · double time 294.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (407.1 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Shake It UpThe CarsF major148BPM
  2. DebraBeckF major147BPM
  3. Can You Hear MeDavid BowieF major148BPM
  4. Love CallingBilly IdolF major148BPM
  5. Your LightCéline DionF major148BPM
  6. The PrayerCéline Dion duet with Andrea BocelliF major148BPM
  7. Shinbone Alley / Hard to ExistSpin DoctorsF major148BPM
  8. FrostiBjörkF major148BPM
  9. All AloneGorillaz featuring Roots ManuvaF major148BPM
  10. Get It While You CanJanis JoplinF major148BPM

Recordings in F major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 147 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F majorAll songs at 147 BPMF major at 140–149 BPMLeonard Cohen

MusicBrainz collapses 2 recording ids into this one. Recording id e68f1283-5675-485c-b840-8bb9202a7145.