Blondie · Parallel Lines
One Way or Another
One Way or Another is in D major at 163 beats per minute.
Tempo
163 BPM · Vivacemedian of 478 analyses · 162.7–163.2 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 94%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 478people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 368.1milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 438.2Hz · -7 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.53dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.903Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.186Essentia'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
478 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 94% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 478 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 163 BPM one beat lasts 368.1 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 92 ms and a dotted eighth 276.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 81.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 326. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 438.2 Hz, which is 7 cents below 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 3.53 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 0.903 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 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 D major
Each of these differs from D 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 163 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1472.4 | 0.68 |
| Half note | 2 | 736.2 | 1.36 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 552.1 | 1.81 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 368.1 | 2.72 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 245.4 | 4.08 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 276.1 | 3.62 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 184 | 5.43 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 122.7 | 8.15 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 138 | 7.24 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 92 | 10.87 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 61.3 | 16.3 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 46 | 21.73 |
Half time 81.5 BPM · double time 326 BPM. Every row is one beat (368.1 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- RemedyAdeleD major163BPM
- Walk All Over YouAC/DCD major163BPM
- Roll Over BeethovenThe BeatlesD major163BPM
- Miles From NowhereCat StevensD major163BPM
- SomedayNickelbackD major163BPM
- She Came In Through the Bathroom WindowThe BeatlesD major163BPM
- CrazyAerosmithD major163BPM
- Melt My Heart to StoneAdeleD major163BPM
- I Can’t Quit You BabyLed ZeppelinD major163BPM
- Las palabras de amor (The Words of Love)QueenD major164BPM
Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 163 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D majorAll songs at 163 BPMD major at 160–169 BPMBlondie
MusicBrainz collapses 39 recording ids into this one. Recording id a8d7415e-c129-47d7-ba01-b4d253af8d6d.