Rose Royce · Greatest Hits
Car Wash
Car Wash is in D minor at 117.2 beats per minute.
Tempo
117 BPM · Moderatomedian of 128 analyses · 114–119.7 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 57%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 128people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 511.9milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 435.7Hz · -17 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 6.14dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.821Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.365Essentia'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
128 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 57% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 128 readings; 52% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 114 to 119.7 BPM.
At 117.2 BPM one beat lasts 511.9 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 128 ms and a dotted eighth 384 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 58.6 BPM, counted twice as fast 234.4. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 435.7 Hz, which is 17 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 6.14 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 0.821 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 minor; 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 minor
Each of these differs from D minor 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 117 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2047.8 | 0.49 |
| Half note | 2 | 1023.9 | 0.98 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 767.9 | 1.3 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 511.9 | 1.95 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 341.3 | 2.93 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 384 | 2.6 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 256 | 3.91 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 170.6 | 5.86 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 192 | 5.21 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 128 | 7.81 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 85.3 | 11.72 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 64 | 15.63 |
Half time 58.6 BPM · double time 234.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (511.9 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- The Eyes of a WomanJourneyD minor117BPM
- SexyBackJustin Timberlake feat. TimbalandD minor117BPM
- ARTPOPLady GagaD minor117BPM
- That’s AllMichael BubléD minor117BPM
- Six Blade KnifeDire StraitsD minor117BPM
- Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My MonkeyThe BeatlesD minor118BPM
- Run Like HellPink FloydD minor117BPM
- RuinerNine Inch NailsD minor117BPM
- Nick of TimeBonnie RaittD minor118BPM
- 1984David BowieD minor118BPM
Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 117 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D minorAll songs at 117 BPMD minor at 110–119 BPM
MusicBrainz collapses 211 recording ids into this one. Recording id b84be45b-9d23-4e10-950f-ac78b65736d9.