The Beach Boys · Pet Sounds
God Only Knows
God Only Knows is in A major at 117.6 beats per minute.
Tempo
118 BPM · Moderatomedian of 279 analyses · 117–117.7 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 93%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 279people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 510.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 439.5Hz · -2 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.58dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.803Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.076Essentia'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
279 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 93% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 279 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 117.6 BPM one beat lasts 510.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 127.6 ms and a dotted eighth 382.7 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 58.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 235.2. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439.5 Hz, which is 2 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 3.58 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 0.803 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 A 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 A major
Each of these differs from A 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 118 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2040.8 | 0.49 |
| Half note | 2 | 1020.4 | 0.98 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 765.3 | 1.31 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 510.2 | 1.96 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 340.1 | 2.94 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 382.7 | 2.61 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 255.1 | 3.92 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 170.1 | 5.88 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 191.3 | 5.23 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 127.6 | 7.84 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 85 | 11.76 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 63.8 | 15.68 |
Half time 58.8 BPM · double time 235.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (510.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Second Hand NewsFleetwood MacA major118BPM
- Glory DaysBruce SpringsteenA major118BPM
- Jugband BluesPink FloydA major118BPM
- My HometownBruce SpringsteenA major118BPM
- JoyBastilleA major118BPM
- Can’t Stop Lovin’ YouVan HalenA major118BPM
- Every Teardrop Is a WaterfallColdplayA major118BPM
- JadedAerosmithA major118BPM
- MagicThe CarsA major118BPM
- Know Your EnemyRage Against the MachineA major118BPM
Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 118 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A majorAll songs at 118 BPMA major at 110–119 BPMThe Beach Boys
MusicBrainz collapses 194 recording ids into this one. Recording id e69ad76d-d2c0-4981-a39b-78d8794c7f0d.