Neil Young · After the Gold Rush
Birds
Birds is in C major at 151.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
152 BPM · Allegromedian of 140 analyses · 151.6–154.3 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 91%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 140people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 395milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 437.5Hz · -10 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 6.84dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.474Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 0.901Essentia'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
140 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 91% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 140 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 151.6 to 154.3 BPM.
At 151.9 BPM one beat lasts 395 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 98.7 ms and a dotted eighth 296.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 76 BPM, counted twice as fast 303.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 437.5 Hz, which is 10 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 6.84 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 0.474 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 C 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 C major
Each of these differs from C 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 152 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1580 | 0.63 |
| Half note | 2 | 790 | 1.27 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 592.5 | 1.69 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 395 | 2.53 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 263.3 | 3.8 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 296.2 | 3.38 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 197.5 | 5.06 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 131.7 | 7.6 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 148.1 | 6.75 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 98.7 | 10.13 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 65.8 | 15.19 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 49.4 | 20.25 |
Half time 76 BPM · double time 303.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (395 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
The same title by somebody else
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
- Only the Good Die YoungBilly JoelC major152BPM
- StagesZZ TopC major152BPM
- ImagineJohn LennonC major152BPM
- I’m Gonna CrawlLed ZeppelinC major152BPM
- Little QueenieChuck BerryC major152BPM
- Fire and RainJames TaylorC major152BPM
- Devil’s Right HandJohnny CashC major151BPM
- Can You Feel the Love TonightJoseph Williams and Sally Dworsky with Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, and Kristle EdwardsC major151BPM
- They’re Red HotRed Hot Chili PeppersC major153BPM
- It Doesn’t Matter AnymoreLinda RonstadtC major153BPM
Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 152 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in C majorAll songs at 152 BPMC major at 150–159 BPMNeil Young
MusicBrainz collapses 31 recording ids into this one. Recording id 4ab2f711-ee1f-43e7-a122-5b4be3053955.