Albert King · New Orleans Heat

Born Under a Bad Sign

Born Under a Bad Sign is in F sharp major at 91.4 beats per minute.

Tempo

91 BPM · Andantemedian of 169 analyses · 90.4–91.6 across the middle eight tenths

Key: F♯ major6 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement: 90%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses: 169people who ran the extractor
One beat: 656.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning: 442.8Hz · +11 cents from A 440
Dynamics: 3.82dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness: 0.882Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability: 1.287Essentia'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

169 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 90% — put it in F sharp major, a key signature of 6 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 169 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 90.4 to 91.6 BPM.

At 91.4 BPM one beat lasts 656.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 164.1 ms and a dotted eighth 492.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 45.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 182.8. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 442.8 Hz, which is 11 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 3.82 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 0.882 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 F sharp 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 F♯ major

Each of these differs from F♯ 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 91 BPM

Note value	Beats	Milliseconds	Hertz
Whole note	4	2625.8	0.38
Half note	2	1312.9	0.76
Dotted quarter	1.5	984.7	1.02
Quarter note (one beat)	1	656.5	1.52
Quarter triplet	0.667	437.6	2.29
Dotted eighth	0.75	492.3	2.03
Eighth note	0.5	328.2	3.05
Eighth triplet	0.333	218.8	4.57
Dotted sixteenth	0.375	246.2	4.06
Sixteenth note	0.25	164.1	6.09
Sixteenth triplet	0.167	109.4	9.14
Thirty-second note	0.125	82.1	12.19

Half time 45.7 BPM · double time 182.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (656.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

Born Under a Bad SignCreamC minor95BPM

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

Recordings in F sharp major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 91 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F sharp major All songs at 91 BPM F♯ major at 90–99 BPM

MusicBrainz collapses 57 recording ids into this one. Recording id 12bea3fb-fdf2-44d0-bf98-ce0128cce98b.