Leonard Cohen · Songs of Leonard Cohen

Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye

Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye is in B flat major at 140.2 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

140 BPM · Allegromedian of 144 analyses · 139.9–140.7 across the middle eight tenths
Key
B♭ major2 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
96%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
144people who ran the extractor
One beat
428milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
437.7Hz · -9 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.84dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.827Essentia'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. All but a handful of them — 96% — put it in B flat major, a key signature of 2 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 144 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 140.2 BPM one beat lasts 428 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 107 ms and a dotted eighth 321 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 70.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 280.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 437.7 Hz, which is 9 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 3.84 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 0.827 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 B flat 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 B♭ major

Each of these differs from B♭ 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 valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41711.80.58
Half note2855.91.17
Dotted quarter1.5641.91.56
Quarter note (one beat)14282.34
Quarter triplet0.667285.33.51
Dotted eighth0.753213.12
Eighth note0.52144.67
Eighth triplet0.333142.77.01
Dotted sixteenth0.375160.56.23
Sixteenth note0.251079.35
Sixteenth triplet0.16771.314.02
Thirty-second note0.12553.518.69

Half time 70.1 BPM · double time 280.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (428 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Raining in BaltimoreCounting CrowsB♭ major140BPM
  2. ApplauseLady GagaB♭ major140BPM
  3. TortureDanny BrownB♭ major140BPM
  4. Still on My MindDidoB♭ major140BPM
  5. Break It (Go)Danny BrownB♭ major140BPM
  6. As Long as You Love MeJustin Bieber feat. Big SeanB♭ major140BPM
  7. Island GirlElton JohnB♭ major140BPM
  8. RudySupertrampB♭ major140BPM
  9. The Son of FlynnDaft PunkB♭ major141BPM
  10. Rockin’ You EternallyLeon WareB♭ major141BPM

Recordings in B flat major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 140 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in B flat majorAll songs at 140 BPMB♭ major at 140–149 BPMLeonard Cohen

MusicBrainz collapses 43 recording ids into this one. Recording id f01d27f7-5080-48fe-877a-0176e217cce7.