TempoPeek

Johnny Cash · Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series

Folsom Prison Blues

Folsom Prison Blues is in F major at 111 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

111 BPM · Moderatomedian of 129 analyses · 110.9–111.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
F major1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
95%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
129people who ran the extractor
One beat
540.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
435.2Hz · -19 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.72dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.913Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.281Essentia'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

129 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 95% — put it in F major, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 129 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 111 BPM one beat lasts 540.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 135.1 ms and a dotted eighth 405.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 55.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 222. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 435.2 Hz, which is 19 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 2.72 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 0.913 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 111 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42162.20.46
Half note21081.10.93
Dotted quarter1.5810.81.23
Quarter note (one beat)1540.51.85
Quarter triplet0.667360.42.78
Dotted eighth0.75405.42.47
Eighth note0.5270.33.7
Eighth triplet0.333180.25.55
Dotted sixteenth0.375202.74.93
Sixteenth note0.25135.17.4
Sixteenth triplet0.16790.111.1
Thirty-second note0.12567.614.8

Half time 55.5 BPM · double time 222 BPM. Every row is one beat (540.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. Folsom Prison BluesJohnny Cash and The Tennessee TwoF major102BPM

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. The Other WomanLana Del ReyF major111BPM
  2. WantedThe CranberriesF major111BPM
  3. LazyDeep PurpleF major111BPM
  4. NanaThe 1975F major111BPM
  5. A Spoonful of SugarJulie AndrewsF major112BPM
  6. Like a PrayerMadonnaF major112BPM
  7. Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, BabeBarry WhiteF major112BPM
  8. Sexy BoyAirF major112BPM
  9. Hump de BumpRed Hot Chili PeppersF major112BPM
  10. I’m Coming OutDiana RossF major110BPM

Recordings in F major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 111 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F majorAll songs at 111 BPMF major at 110–119 BPMJohnny Cash

MusicBrainz collapses 238 recording ids into this one. Recording id f05926b6-95a7-4980-8266-77ebe33343a1.