TempoPeek

David Bowie · Pin Ups

I Can’t Explain

I Can’t Explain is in F major at 108.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

108 BPM · Moderatomedian of 254 analyses · 107.9–108.2 across the middle eight tenths
Key
F major1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
97%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
254people who ran the extractor
One beat
555milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.45dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.806Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.119Essentia'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

254 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in F major, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 254 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 108.1 BPM one beat lasts 555 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 138.8 ms and a dotted eighth 416.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 54.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 216.2. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 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 5.45 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 0.806 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 108 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42220.20.45
Half note21110.10.9
Dotted quarter1.5832.61.2
Quarter note (one beat)15551.8
Quarter triplet0.6673702.7
Dotted eighth0.75416.32.4
Eighth note0.5277.53.6
Eighth triplet0.3331855.41
Dotted sixteenth0.375208.14.8
Sixteenth note0.25138.87.21
Sixteenth triplet0.16792.510.81
Thirty-second note0.12569.414.41

Half time 54.1 BPM · double time 216.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (555 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. I Can’t ExplainThe WhoA major138BPM

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. Set Fire to the RainAdeleF major108BPM
  2. Larger Than LifeBackstreet BoysF major108BPM
  3. Tell Me BabyRed Hot Chili PeppersF major108BPM
  4. Upside DownDiana RossF major108BPM
  5. Djobi, DjobaGipsy KingsF major108BPM
  6. Light It Up (remix)Major Lazer feat. Nyla & Fuse ODGF major108BPM
  7. Why Don’t You Get a Job?The OffspringF major108BPM
  8. Walk This WayAerosmithF major108BPM
  9. You’ve Been Flirting AgainBjörkF major108BPM
  10. A Little TimeThe Beautiful SouthF major109BPM

Recordings in F major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 108 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F majorAll songs at 108 BPMF major at 100–109 BPMDavid Bowie

MusicBrainz collapses 14 recording ids into this one. Recording id ea7e9d10-710e-4a7b-a23c-a799e39f24d4.