ZZ Top · El loco
Pearl Necklace
Pearl Necklace is in A major at 155.6 beats per minute.
Tempo
156 BPM · Allegromedian of 216 analyses · 155.5–155.7 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 95%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 216people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 385.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 441.3Hz · +5 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.25dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.878Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.296Essentia'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
216 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 95% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 216 readings; 95% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 155.6 BPM one beat lasts 385.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 96.4 ms and a dotted eighth 289.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 77.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 311.2. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.3 Hz, which is 5 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 3.25 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 0.878 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 A 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 A major
Each of these differs from A 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 156 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1542.4 | 0.65 |
| Half note | 2 | 771.2 | 1.3 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 578.4 | 1.73 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 385.6 | 2.59 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 257.1 | 3.89 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 289.2 | 3.46 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 192.8 | 5.19 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 128.5 | 7.78 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 144.6 | 6.92 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 96.4 | 10.37 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 64.3 | 15.56 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 48.2 | 20.75 |
Half time 77.8 BPM · double time 311.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (385.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Black Country RockDavid BowieA major156BPM
- Breaking BreadJohnny CashA major155BPM
- What Can I DoThe CorrsA major156BPM
- Frame by FrameKing CrimsonA major156BPM
- Tears in HeavenEric ClaptonA major156BPM
- Radio Free EuropeR.E.M.A major155BPM
- In God’s HandsNelly FurtadoA major155BPM
- SpitMeat PuppetsA major155BPM
- AgainLenny KravitzA major156BPM
- All the TimeGreen DayA major155BPM
Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 156 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A majorAll songs at 156 BPMA major at 150–159 BPMZZ Top
MusicBrainz collapses 9 recording ids into this one. Recording id f1656221-08d7-4fde-85b2-c17b3a310aec.