U2 · Songs of Innocence
Song for Someone
Song for Someone is in B major at 104.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
105 BPM · Andantemedian of 238 analyses · 104.9–105 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- B major5 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 100%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 238people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 572milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.76dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.714Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.168Essentia'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
238 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in B major, a key signature of 5 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 238 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 104.9 BPM one beat lasts 572 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 143 ms and a dotted eighth 429 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 52.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 209.8. A score would mark that Andante, 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 4.76 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 0.714 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 B 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 B major
Each of these differs from B 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 105 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2287.9 | 0.44 |
| Half note | 2 | 1143.9 | 0.87 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 858 | 1.17 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 572 | 1.75 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 381.3 | 2.62 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 429 | 2.33 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 286 | 3.5 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 190.7 | 5.25 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 214.5 | 4.66 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 143 | 6.99 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 95.3 | 10.49 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 71.5 | 13.99 |
Half time 52.5 BPM · double time 209.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (572 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- You Oughta Know (Jimmy the Saint blend) / Your House (a cappella)Alanis MorissetteB major105BPM
- You Oughta KnowAlanis MorissetteB major105BPM
- 9 to 5Dolly PartonB major106BPM
- Going Away to Collegeblink‐182B major104BPM
- Let’s Stay TogetherTina TurnerB major104BPM
- Hard to HandleThe Black CrowesB major104BPM
- Snow ((Hey Oh))Red Hot Chili PeppersB major106BPM
- Walk Like an EgyptianBanglesB major103BPM
- Take a Chance on MeABBAB major107BPM
- VegetableRadioheadB major107BPM
Recordings in B major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 105 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in B majorAll songs at 105 BPMB major at 100–109 BPMU2
MusicBrainz collapses 14 recording ids into this one. Recording id 6eb62ec8-b47a-445e-a492-0f99fb7ba3ab.