David Bowie · Scary Monsters… and Super Creeps
Because You’re Young
Because You’re Young is in C major at 121.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
122 BPM · Allegromedian of 169 analyses · 121.9–122.5 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 97%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 169people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 492.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 441.3Hz · +5 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.05dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.797Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.207Essentia'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. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 169 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 121.9 BPM one beat lasts 492.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 123.1 ms and a dotted eighth 369.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 61 BPM, counted twice as fast 243.8. 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 4.05 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 0.797 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 C 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 C major
Each of these differs from C 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 122 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1968.8 | 0.51 |
| Half note | 2 | 984.4 | 1.02 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 738.3 | 1.35 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 492.2 | 2.03 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 328.1 | 3.05 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 369.2 | 2.71 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 246.1 | 4.06 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 164.1 | 6.1 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 184.6 | 5.42 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 123.1 | 8.13 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 82 | 12.19 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 61.5 | 16.25 |
Half time 61 BPM · double time 243.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (492.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Who’s Crying NowJourneyC major122BPM
- Wild HoneyThe Beach BoysC major122BPM
- The World’s Green LaughterThe B‐52’sC major122BPM
- Raise Your GlassP!nkC major122BPM
- New Moon on MondayDuran DuranC major122BPM
- Tired of Waiting for YouThe KinksC major122BPM
- Hinnom, TXBon IverC major122BPM
- Pow R. Toc H.Pink FloydC major122BPM
- Our HouseMadnessC major122BPM
- Grace KellyMIKAC major122BPM
Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 122 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in C majorAll songs at 122 BPMC major at 120–129 BPMDavid Bowie
MusicBrainz collapses 1 recording id into this one. Recording id 3fca1203-a1b1-476c-a178-a0fbddf59bae.