TempoPeek

Johnny Cash · American III: Solitary Man

The Mercy Seat

The Mercy Seat is in C major at 87.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

88 BPM · Andantemedian of 172 analyses · 87.5–88.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
97%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
172people who ran the extractor
One beat
685.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441.8Hz · +7 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.78dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.884Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.248Essentia'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

172 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 172 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 87.5 BPM one beat lasts 685.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 171.4 ms and a dotted eighth 514.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 43.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 175. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.8 Hz, which is 7 cents above 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 2.78 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 0.884 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 88 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42742.90.36
Half note21371.40.73
Dotted quarter1.51028.60.97
Quarter note (one beat)1685.71.46
Quarter triplet0.667457.12.19
Dotted eighth0.75514.31.94
Eighth note0.5342.92.92
Eighth triplet0.333228.64.38
Dotted sixteenth0.375257.13.89
Sixteenth note0.25171.45.83
Sixteenth triplet0.167114.38.75
Thirty-second note0.12585.711.67

Half time 43.8 BPM · double time 175 BPM. Every row is one beat (685.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. She’s Got Her TicketTracy ChapmanC major87BPM
  2. No FreedomDidoC major88BPM
  3. LA CANCIÓNJ Balvin & Bad BunnyC major88BPM
  4. The Doo‐Bop SongMiles DavisC major88BPM
  5. The Road I’m On3 Doors DownC major88BPM
  6. Apprends‐moiCéline DionC major87BPM
  7. All I NeedRadioheadC major88BPM
  8. EmotionDestiny’s ChildC major87BPM
  9. Coming Back to LifePink FloydC major88BPM
  10. Sheena Is a Punk RockerRamonesC major88BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 88 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 88 BPMC major at 80–89 BPMJohnny Cash

MusicBrainz collapses 2 recording ids into this one. Recording id a342133f-251e-47b6-b5fd-51b4a895ec81.