Lynyrd Skynyrd · Second Helping
The Ballad of Curtis Loew
The Ballad of Curtis Loew is in E major at 146.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
147 BPM · Allegromedian of 153 analyses · 146.8–147 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 97%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 153people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 408.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 442.8Hz · +11 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.29dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.867Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.232Essentia'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
153 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 153 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 146.9 BPM one beat lasts 408.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 102.1 ms and a dotted eighth 306.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 73.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 293.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 442.8 Hz, which is 11 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 4.29 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 0.867 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 147 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1633.8 | 0.61 |
| Half note | 2 | 816.9 | 1.22 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 612.7 | 1.63 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 408.4 | 2.45 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 272.3 | 3.67 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 306.3 | 3.26 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 204.2 | 4.9 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 136.1 | 7.35 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 153.2 | 6.53 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 102.1 | 9.79 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 68.1 | 14.69 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 51.1 | 19.59 |
Half time 73.5 BPM · double time 293.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (408.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Mama’s BoyRamonesE major147BPM
- Born to RunBruce SpringsteenE major147BPM
- Good Morning Little SchoolgirlThe YardbirdsE major146BPM
- How Can You Mend a Broken HeartAl GreenE major148BPM
- King for a DayGreen DayE major148BPM
- Let’s Go Trippin’Dick Dale and His Del‐TonesE major148BPM
- EverglowColdplayE major146BPM
- Talking to the MoonBruno MarsE major146BPM
- Helpless When She SmilesBackstreet BoysE major148BPM
- Can’t Get There From HereR.E.M.E major145BPM
Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 147 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in E majorAll songs at 147 BPME major at 140–149 BPMLynyrd Skynyrd
MusicBrainz collapses 10 recording ids into this one. Recording id b8d52e27-a7c8-48ff-8981-717deff58afb.