Bee Gees · The Studio Albums 1967–1968: Horizontal

Words

Words is in G major at 81.4 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

81 BPM · Andantemedian of 137 analyses · 80.4–163 across the middle eight tenths
Key
G major1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
99%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
137people who ran the extractor
One beat
737.1milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
440.5Hz · +2 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.87dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.708Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.018Essentia'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

137 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in G major, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 137 readings; 84% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 80.4 to 163 BPM.

At 81.4 BPM one beat lasts 737.1 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 184.3 ms and a dotted eighth 552.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 40.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 162.8. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.5 Hz, which is 2 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 4.87 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 0.708 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 G 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 G major

Each of these differs from G 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 81 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42948.40.34
Half note21474.20.68
Dotted quarter1.51105.70.9
Quarter note (one beat)1737.11.36
Quarter triplet0.667491.42.04
Dotted eighth0.75552.81.81
Eighth note0.5368.62.71
Eighth triplet0.333245.74.07
Dotted sixteenth0.375276.43.62
Sixteenth note0.25184.35.43
Sixteenth triplet0.167122.98.14
Thirty-second note0.12592.110.85

Half time 40.7 BPM · double time 162.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (737.1 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. WordsF.R. DavidC major124BPM

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

  1. Sullivan StreetCounting CrowsG major81BPM
  2. The Best Damn ThingAvril LavigneG major83BPM
  3. End of a CenturyBlurG major80BPM
  4. Here, There and EverywhereThe BeatlesG major83BPM
  5. Young AmericansDavid BowieG major84BPM
  6. Red 2 GoDanny BrownG major84BPM
  7. Winter WindsMumford & SonsG major84BPM
  8. Stable SongDeath Cab for CutieG major84BPM
  9. HummerSmashing PumpkinsG major84BPM
  10. RecoverCHVRCHESG major85BPM

Recordings in G major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 81 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in G majorAll songs at 81 BPMG major at 80–89 BPMBee Gees

MusicBrainz collapses 39 recording ids into this one. Recording id 7d2d1cfb-4bd8-4950-a4f3-ccd52dee3302.