Tracy Chapman · Tracy Chapman
Why?
Why? is in E minor at 109.6 beats per minute.
Tempo
110 BPM · Moderatomedian of 132 analyses · 109.5–109.7 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- E minor1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 42%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 132people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 547.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.57dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.731Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.135Essentia'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
132 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Fewer than half of them — 42% — put it in E minor, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 132 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 109.6 BPM one beat lasts 547.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 136.9 ms and a dotted eighth 410.6 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 54.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 219.2. A score would mark that Moderato, 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 4.57 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 0.731 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 E minor; 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 E minor
Each of these differs from E minor 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 110 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2189.8 | 0.46 |
| Half note | 2 | 1094.9 | 0.91 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 821.2 | 1.22 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 547.4 | 1.83 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 365 | 2.74 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 410.6 | 2.44 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 273.7 | 3.65 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 182.5 | 5.48 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 205.3 | 4.87 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 136.9 | 7.31 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 91.2 | 10.96 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 68.4 | 14.61 |
Half time 54.8 BPM · double time 219.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (547.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
The same title by somebody else
Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.
Closest in key and tempo
- 7 DaysCraig DavidE minor111BPM
- Magic Carpet RideSteppenwolfE minor111BPM
- BlindingFlorence + the MachineE minor108BPM
- Lily Was HereDavid A. Stewart featuring Candy DulferE minor108BPM
- PitifulAretha FranklinE minor108BPM
- Good Times RollThe CarsE minor108BPM
- I Don’t Live TodayThe Jimi Hendrix ExperienceE minor112BPM
- This Is the DayThe CranberriesE minor107BPM
- Hey YouPink FloydE minor112BPM
- Edge of SeventeenStevie NicksE minor112BPM
Recordings in E minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 110 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in E minorAll songs at 110 BPME minor at 100–109 BPMTracy Chapman
MusicBrainz collapses 12 recording ids into this one. Recording id b9b2bea5-04fe-4b90-ae64-1a90541864f0.