U2 · The Unforgettable Fire

The Unforgettable Fire

The Unforgettable Fire is in D minor at 136.2 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

136 BPM · Allegromedian of 206 analyses · 136.1–136.4 across the middle eight tenths
Key
D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
98%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
206people who ran the extractor
One beat
440.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
443.6Hz · +14 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.28dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.588Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.065Essentia'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

206 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 98% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 206 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 136.2 BPM one beat lasts 440.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 110.1 ms and a dotted eighth 330.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 68.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 272.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 443.6 Hz, which is 14 cents above 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 5.28 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 0.588 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 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 D minor

Each of these differs from D 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 136 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41762.10.57
Half note2881.11.14
Dotted quarter1.5660.81.51
Quarter note (one beat)1440.52.27
Quarter triplet0.667293.73.41
Dotted eighth0.75330.43.03
Eighth note0.5220.34.54
Eighth triplet0.333146.86.81
Dotted sixteenth0.375165.26.05
Sixteenth note0.25110.19.08
Sixteenth triplet0.16773.413.62
Thirty-second note0.12555.118.16

Half time 68.1 BPM · double time 272.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (440.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Run Through the JungleCreedence Clearwater RevivalD minor136BPM
  2. Ohne dichRammsteinD minor136BPM
  3. N.S.U.CreamD minor136BPM
  4. RicochetDavid BowieD minor136BPM
  5. EclipsePink FloydD minor137BPM
  6. So WhatMiles Davis featuring Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb with Gil Evans and His 21 Piece OrchestraD minor137BPM
  7. Treat Me RightPat BenatarD minor136BPM
  8. I Just Want to Have Something to DoRamonesD minor137BPM
  9. It Was a Very Good YearFrank SinatraD minor135BPM
  10. Jesus Christ PoseSoundgardenD minor135BPM

Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 136 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in D minorAll songs at 136 BPMD minor at 130–139 BPMU2

MusicBrainz collapses 253 recording ids into this one. Recording id 33ccb1be-f0e1-4497-8982-28bfe870f707.