Tracy Chapman · Tracy Chapman
Baby Can I Hold You
Baby Can I Hold You is in D major at 148.5 beats per minute.
Tempo
149 BPM · Allegromedian of 203 analyses · 148.5–148.6 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 94%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 203people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 404milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.99dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.832Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.116Essentia'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
203 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 94% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 203 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 148.5 BPM one beat lasts 404 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 101 ms and a dotted eighth 303 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 74.3 BPM, counted twice as fast 297. A score would mark that Allegro, 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 4.99 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 0.832 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 149 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1616.2 | 0.62 |
| Half note | 2 | 808.1 | 1.24 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 606.1 | 1.65 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 404 | 2.48 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 269.4 | 3.71 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 303 | 3.3 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 202 | 4.95 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 134.7 | 7.43 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 151.5 | 6.6 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 101 | 9.9 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 67.3 | 14.85 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 50.5 | 19.8 |
Half time 74.3 BPM · double time 297 BPM. Every row is one beat (404 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- SexThe 1975D major148BPM
- Peggy Sue (alternate version)Buddy Holly & The CricketsD major149BPM
- Spanish BombsThe ClashD major149BPM
- Hi Fi MamaZZ TopD major148BPM
- When I’m Gone3 Doors DownD major148BPM
- I’ll Be There for YouBon JoviD major148BPM
- SecretsOneRepublicD major148BPM
- Loser3 Doors DownD major148BPM
- MercyShawn MendesD major148BPM
- Slave to LoveBryan FerryD major148BPM
Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 149 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D majorAll songs at 149 BPMD major at 140–149 BPMTracy Chapman
MusicBrainz collapses 16 recording ids into this one. Recording id 19dc6206-5102-4ff0-b1e6-a5c1a24aceb5.