David Bowie · Hunky Dory
Song for Bob Dylan
Song for Bob Dylan is in A major at 139.7 beats per minute.
Tempo
140 BPM · Allegromedian of 289 analyses · 139.7–139.9 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 97%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 289people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 429.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 440.5Hz · +2 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.06dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.81Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.167Essentia'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
289 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 289 readings; 95% 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 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 4.06 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 0.81 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 A 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 A major
Each of these differs from A 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
- Train of Thoughta‐haA major140BPM
- Girl Keeps Coming ApartAerosmithA major140BPM
- Mississippi QueenMountainA major140BPM
- Down in the ParkFoo FightersA major140BPM
- Who KnewP!nkA major140BPM
- WalkFoo FightersA major140BPM
- Feliz NavidadCéline DionA major140BPM
- BirthdayThe BeatlesA major139BPM
- Tears of RageBob Dylan & The BandA major140BPM
- The Way We WereBarbra StreisandA major139BPM
Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 140 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A majorAll songs at 140 BPMA major at 130–139 BPMDavid Bowie
MusicBrainz collapses 12 recording ids into this one. Recording id e783c7ad-9b12-44f6-ac27-2a3c91afa223.