Aretha Franklin · Young, Gifted and Black
Border Song (Holy Moses)
Border Song (Holy Moses) is in F major at 139.7 beats per minute.
Tempo
140 BPM · Allegromedian of 222 analyses · 139.6–139.8 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- F major1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 55%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 222people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 429.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 443.3Hz · +13 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.69dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.407Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.041Essentia'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
222 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 55% — put it in F major, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 222 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 139.7 BPM one beat lasts 429.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 107.4 ms and a dotted eighth 322.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 69.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 279.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 443.3 Hz, which is 13 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 4.69 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 0.407 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 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 140 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1718 | 0.58 |
| Half note | 2 | 859 | 1.16 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 644.2 | 1.55 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 429.5 | 2.33 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 286.3 | 3.49 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 322.1 | 3.1 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 214.7 | 4.66 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 143.2 | 6.99 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 161.1 | 6.21 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 107.4 | 9.31 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 71.6 | 13.97 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 53.7 | 18.63 |
Half time 69.9 BPM · double time 279.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (429.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Low RiderWarF major140BPM
- SmoochMiles Davis QuartetF major140BPM
- UnmistakableBackstreet BoysF major140BPM
- Another Saturday NightCat StevensF major140BPM
- GirlsBeastie BoysF major139BPM
- WinDavid BowieF major139BPM
- TamePixiesF major139BPM
- Thunder RoadBruce SpringsteenF major140BPM
- Miles to Go (Before I Sleep)Céline DionF major139BPM
- Little Lion ManMumford & SonsF major139BPM
Recordings in F major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 140 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in F majorAll songs at 140 BPMF major at 130–139 BPMAretha Franklin
MusicBrainz collapses 3 recording ids into this one. Recording id 515bf9dd-b2ad-48f9-a145-9da95c1e2ad7.