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.
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 value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1564.5 | 0.64 |
| Half note | 2 | 782.3 | 1.28 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 586.7 | 1.7 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 391.1 | 2.56 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 260.8 | 3.84 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 293.4 | 3.41 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 195.6 | 5.11 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 130.4 | 7.67 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 146.7 | 6.82 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 97.8 | 10.23 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 65.2 | 15.34 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 48.9 | 20.45 |
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
- Wasted on the WayCrosby, Stills & NashD major154BPM
- Let Me Take You Home TonightBostonD major154BPM
- HellFoo FightersD major153BPM
- Strong EnoughSheryl CrowD major154BPM
- Tell Me WhyThe BeatlesD major155BPM
- Sweetness FollowsR.E.M.D major152BPM
- The ScarecrowPink FloydD major155BPM
- Lucky ManEmerson, Lake & PalmerD major155BPM
- Going to CaliforniaLed ZeppelinD major155BPM
- 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.