Marvin Gaye · Let's Get It On
Distant Lover
Distant Lover is in E major at 142 beats per minute.
Tempo
142 BPM · Allegromedian of 133 analyses · 142–142.1 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 99%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 133people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 422.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 441.8Hz · +7 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.51dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.924Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.276Essentia'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
133 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 133 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 142 BPM one beat lasts 422.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 105.6 ms and a dotted eighth 316.9 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 71 BPM, counted twice as fast 284. A score would mark that Allegro, 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 3.51 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 0.924 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 E 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 E major
Each of these differs from E 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 142 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1690.1 | 0.59 |
| Half note | 2 | 845.1 | 1.18 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 633.8 | 1.58 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 422.5 | 2.37 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 281.7 | 3.55 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 316.9 | 3.16 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 211.3 | 4.73 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 140.8 | 7.1 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 158.5 | 6.31 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 105.6 | 9.47 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 70.4 | 14.2 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 52.8 | 18.93 |
Half time 71 BPM · double time 284 BPM. Every row is one beat (422.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Rocks OffThe Rolling StonesE major142BPM
- Stickshifts and SafetybeltsCAKEE major142BPM
- The CaveMumford & SonsE major142BPM
- All I AskAdeleE major142BPM
- Peaceful Easy FeelingEaglesE major143BPM
- A Pillow of WindsPink FloydE major143BPM
- Turn to StoneElectric Light OrchestraE major141BPM
- AlwaysBon JoviE major143BPM
- Brighton RockQueenE major143BPM
- Side F/XShotgun MessiahE major143BPM
Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 142 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in E majorAll songs at 142 BPME major at 140–149 BPMMarvin Gaye
MusicBrainz collapses 68 recording ids into this one. Recording id 3904c196-2093-45a0-8366-c239d5e71261.