Elvis Costello · My Aim Is True
Mystery Dance
Mystery Dance is in C major at 117.7 beats per minute.
Tempo
118 BPM · Moderatomedian of 144 analyses · 117.3–117.7 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 94%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 144people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 509.8milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.73dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.719Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.017Essentia'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
144 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 94% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 144 readings; 95% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 117.7 BPM one beat lasts 509.8 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 127.4 ms and a dotted eighth 382.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 58.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 235.4. 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 5.73 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 0.719 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 118 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2039.1 | 0.49 |
| Half note | 2 | 1019.5 | 0.98 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 764.7 | 1.31 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 509.8 | 1.96 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 339.8 | 2.94 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 382.3 | 2.62 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 254.9 | 3.92 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 169.9 | 5.89 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 191.2 | 5.23 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 127.4 | 7.85 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 85 | 11.77 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 63.7 | 15.69 |
Half time 58.9 BPM · double time 235.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (509.8 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- I Know What I KnowPaul SimonC major118BPM
- Your Mother Should KnowThe BeatlesC major118BPM
- Rainbow in the DarkDioC major118BPM
- Wasted TimeEaglesC major118BPM
- Keep the FaithBon JoviC major118BPM
- Evil WaysSantanaC major118BPM
- Dancing DaysLed ZeppelinC major118BPM
- Movin’ OnBad CompanyC major118BPM
- Fall on MeR.E.M.C major118BPM
- I Should Have KnownFoo FightersC major118BPM
Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 118 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in C majorAll songs at 118 BPMC major at 110–119 BPMElvis Costello
MusicBrainz collapses 20 recording ids into this one. Recording id dc9b24fb-dfba-4140-8482-9c15bf45f93b.