The Byrds · Younger Than Yesterday

So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star

So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star is in D major at 153.4 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

153 BPM · Allegromedian of 167 analyses · 152.8–153.9 across the middle eight tenths
Key
D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
78%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
167people who ran the extractor
One beat
391.1milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
440.5Hz · +2 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.72dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.833Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
0.957Essentia'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

167 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 78% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 167 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 152.8 to 153.9 BPM.

At 153.4 BPM one beat lasts 391.1 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 97.8 ms and a dotted eighth 293.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 76.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 306.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.5 Hz, which is 2 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 3.72 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 0.833 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 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 D major

Each of these differs from D 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 153 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41564.50.64
Half note2782.31.28
Dotted quarter1.5586.71.7
Quarter note (one beat)1391.12.56
Quarter triplet0.667260.83.84
Dotted eighth0.75293.43.41
Eighth note0.5195.65.11
Eighth triplet0.333130.47.67
Dotted sixteenth0.375146.76.82
Sixteenth note0.2597.810.23
Sixteenth triplet0.16765.215.34
Thirty-second note0.12548.920.45

Half time 76.7 BPM · double time 306.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (391.1 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Wasted on the WayCrosby, Stills & NashD major154BPM
  2. Let Me Take You Home TonightBostonD major154BPM
  3. HellFoo FightersD major153BPM
  4. Strong EnoughSheryl CrowD major154BPM
  5. Tell Me WhyThe BeatlesD major155BPM
  6. Sweetness FollowsR.E.M.D major152BPM
  7. The ScarecrowPink FloydD major155BPM
  8. Lucky ManEmerson, Lake & PalmerD major155BPM
  9. Going to CaliforniaLed ZeppelinD major155BPM
  10. Ship of FoolsThe DoorsD major155BPM

Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 153 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in D majorAll songs at 153 BPMD major at 150–159 BPMThe Byrds

MusicBrainz collapses 58 recording ids into this one. Recording id c386ed16-6f25-47e1-a57a-b5c46fde0cc5.