TempoPeek

Elton John · Too Low for Zero

I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues

I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues is in C major at 80.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

80 BPM · Andantemedian of 159 analyses · 80.3–80.4 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
100%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
159people who ran the extractor
One beat
747.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.95dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.754Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.085Essentia'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

159 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 159 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 80.3 BPM one beat lasts 747.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 186.8 ms and a dotted eighth 560.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 40.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 160.6. A score would mark that Andante, 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 3.95 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 0.754 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 80 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42988.80.33
Half note21494.40.67
Dotted quarter1.51120.80.89
Quarter note (one beat)1747.21.34
Quarter triplet0.667498.12.01
Dotted eighth0.75560.41.78
Eighth note0.5373.62.68
Eighth triplet0.333249.14.01
Dotted sixteenth0.375280.23.57
Sixteenth note0.25186.85.35
Sixteenth triplet0.167124.58.03
Thirty-second note0.12593.410.71

Half time 40.2 BPM · double time 160.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (747.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. The First NoelNeil DiamondC major81BPM
  2. Come Away With MeNorah JonesC major81BPM
  3. ChangesBlack SabbathC major81BPM
  4. MisunderstandingGenesisC major81BPM
  5. Golden SlumbersThe BeatlesC major81BPM
  6. All I NeedAWOLNATIONC major81BPM
  7. For My LoverTracy ChapmanC major81BPM
  8. The Sky Is BrokenMobyC major82BPM
  9. TrumpetsJason DeruloC major82BPM
  10. Float OnDanny Brown feat. Charli XCXC major82BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 80 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 80 BPMC major at 80–89 BPMElton John

MusicBrainz collapses 24 recording ids into this one. Recording id b4905fe3-749c-47f4-8236-f365271a5950.