The Beach Boys · Pet Sounds
Sloop John B
Sloop John B is in A flat major at 125.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
126 BPM · Allegromedian of 229 analyses · 125.7–126.2 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A♭ major4 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 98%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 229people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 476.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 440.8Hz · +3 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.36dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.722Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.084Essentia'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
229 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 98% — put it in A flat major, a key signature of 4 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 229 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 125.9 BPM one beat lasts 476.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 119.1 ms and a dotted eighth 357.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 63 BPM, counted twice as fast 251.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.8 Hz, which is 3 cents above 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 4.36 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 0.722 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 flat 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 126 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1906.3 | 0.52 |
| Half note | 2 | 953.1 | 1.05 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 714.9 | 1.4 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 476.6 | 2.1 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 317.7 | 3.15 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 357.4 | 2.8 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 238.3 | 4.2 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 158.9 | 6.3 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 178.7 | 5.6 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 119.1 | 8.39 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 79.4 | 12.59 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 59.6 | 16.79 |
Half time 63 BPM · double time 251.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (476.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- I Wish It Would Rain DownPhil CollinsA♭ major126BPM
- All of MeJohn LegendA♭ major126BPM
- Goodbye StrangerSupertrampA♭ major126BPM
- IfDestiny’s ChildA♭ major126BPM
- Higher GroundStevie WonderA♭ major126BPM
- A View to a KillDuran DuranA♭ major126BPM
- I’m a ManChicago Transit AuthorityA♭ major126BPM
- High LifeDaft PunkA♭ major125BPM
- I Need Your LoveCalvin Harris feat. Ellie GouldingA♭ major125BPM
- Like a G6Far East Movement ft. Cataracs & DevA♭ major125BPM
Recordings in A flat major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 126 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A flat majorAll songs at 126 BPMA♭ major at 120–129 BPMThe Beach Boys
MusicBrainz collapses 166 recording ids into this one. Recording id 9cdcb56e-2e88-446c-bb06-08e99c78b886.