The Cure · Seventeen Seconds
Play for Today
Play for Today is in G major at 162.2 beats per minute.
Tempo
162 BPM · Vivacemedian of 205 analyses · 150.3–163 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- G major1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 70%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 205people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 369.9milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.53dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.856Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.462Essentia'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
205 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 70% — put it in G major, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 205 readings; 82% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 150.3 to 163 BPM.
At 162.2 BPM one beat lasts 369.9 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 92.5 ms and a dotted eighth 277.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 81.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 324.4. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — the sort of drift a tape machine or a slightly different mastering leaves behind. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.
The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.53 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 0.856 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 162 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1479.7 | 0.68 |
| Half note | 2 | 739.8 | 1.35 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 554.9 | 1.8 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 369.9 | 2.7 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 246.6 | 4.06 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 277.4 | 3.6 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 185 | 5.41 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 123.3 | 8.11 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 138.7 | 7.21 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 92.5 | 10.81 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 61.7 | 16.22 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 46.2 | 21.63 |
Half time 81.1 BPM · double time 324.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (369.9 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Sugar, We’re Goin DownFall Out BoyG major162BPM
- Driver 8R.E.M.G major162BPM
- I’m a BelieverThe MonkeesG major162BPM
- So LongABBAG major162BPM
- Leaving Las VegasSheryl CrowG major162BPM
- Koka KolaThe ClashG major163BPM
- OhioCrosby, Stills, Nash & YoungG major163BPM
- Slipped AwayAvril LavigneG major162BPM
- To Love a WomanLionel Richie feat. Enrique IglesiasG major162BPM
- Black StarRadioheadG major162BPM
Recordings in G major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 162 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in G majorAll songs at 162 BPMG major at 160–169 BPMThe Cure
MusicBrainz collapses 120 recording ids into this one. Recording id 3cf02bee-f4b0-4ccc-9aa6-220d4801b074.