The Beatles · Rarer Than Rare
I Should Have Known Better
I Should Have Known Better is in G major at 130.5 beats per minute.
Tempo
131 BPM · Allegromedian of 251 analyses · 129.8–130.6 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- G major1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 96%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 251people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 459.8milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 439Hz · -4 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.97dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.944Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.139Essentia'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
251 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 96% — put it in G major, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 251 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 130.5 BPM one beat lasts 459.8 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 114.9 ms and a dotted eighth 344.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 65.3 BPM, counted twice as fast 261. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439 Hz, which is 4 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 3.97 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 0.944 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 G 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 G major
Each of these differs from G 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 131 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1839.1 | 0.54 |
| Half note | 2 | 919.5 | 1.09 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 689.7 | 1.45 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 459.8 | 2.18 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 306.5 | 3.26 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 344.8 | 2.9 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 229.9 | 4.35 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 153.3 | 6.53 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 172.4 | 5.8 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 114.9 | 8.7 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 76.6 | 13.05 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 57.5 | 17.4 |
Half time 65.3 BPM · double time 261 BPM. Every row is one beat (459.8 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- MoonshadowCat StevensG major130BPM
- DestinCéline DionG major130BPM
- Drown in My Own TearsAretha FranklinG major130BPM
- Sexy BitchDavid Guetta feat. AkonG major130BPM
- Everything but MineBackstreet BoysG major130BPM
- Moonlight MileThe Rolling StonesG major130BPM
- Workin’ Day and NightMichael JacksonG major130BPM
- Shut Up and DanceAerosmithG major130BPM
- Cry Wolfa‐haG major131BPM
- School DaysChuck BerryG major131BPM
Recordings in G major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 131 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in G majorAll songs at 131 BPMG major at 130–139 BPMThe Beatles
MusicBrainz collapses 57 recording ids into this one. Recording id e33d52b7-2ed6-4889-89f4-7a9e696eac37.