Rose Royce · Greatest Hits

Car Wash

Car Wash is in D minor at 117.2 beats per minute.

4080120160200

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 valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42047.80.49
Half note21023.90.98
Dotted quarter1.5767.91.3
Quarter note (one beat)1511.91.95
Quarter triplet0.667341.32.93
Dotted eighth0.753842.6
Eighth note0.52563.91
Eighth triplet0.333170.65.86
Dotted sixteenth0.3751925.21
Sixteenth note0.251287.81
Sixteenth triplet0.16785.311.72
Thirty-second note0.1256415.63

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

  1. The Eyes of a WomanJourneyD minor117BPM
  2. SexyBackJustin Timberlake feat. TimbalandD minor117BPM
  3. ARTPOPLady GagaD minor117BPM
  4. That’s AllMichael BubléD minor117BPM
  5. Six Blade KnifeDire StraitsD minor117BPM
  6. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My MonkeyThe BeatlesD minor118BPM
  7. Run Like HellPink FloydD minor117BPM
  8. RuinerNine Inch NailsD minor117BPM
  9. Nick of TimeBonnie RaittD minor118BPM
  10. 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.