TempoPeek

Neil Young · After the Gold Rush

Southern Man

Southern Man is in D minor at 162.9 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

163 BPM · Vivacemedian of 235 analyses · 162.8–163 across the middle eight tenths
Key
D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
95%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
235people who ran the extractor
One beat
368.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
442.8Hz · +11 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.97dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.838Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.4Essentia'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

235 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 95% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 235 readings; 92% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 162.9 BPM one beat lasts 368.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 92.1 ms and a dotted eighth 276.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 81.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 325.8. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 442.8 Hz, which is 11 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 2.97 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 0.838 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 D minor; 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 D minor

Each of these differs from D minor 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 163 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41473.30.68
Half note2736.61.36
Dotted quarter1.5552.51.81
Quarter note (one beat)1368.32.72
Quarter triplet0.667245.54.07
Dotted eighth0.75276.23.62
Eighth note0.5184.25.43
Eighth triplet0.333122.88.15
Dotted sixteenth0.375138.17.24
Sixteenth note0.2592.110.86
Sixteenth triplet0.16761.416.29
Thirty-second note0.1254621.72

Half time 81.5 BPM · double time 325.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (368.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. Southern ManCrosby, Stills, Nash & YoungD minor153BPM

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. Kicked in the TeethAC/DCD minor163BPM
  2. Changes3 Doors DownD minor163BPM
  3. The Thunder RollsGarth BrooksD minor163BPM
  4. KashmirLed ZeppelinD minor163BPM
  5. Give Me Back My ManThe B‐52sD minor162BPM
  6. Every Little Thing She Does Is MagicThe PoliceD minor164BPM
  7. Have It AllFoo FightersD minor164BPM
  8. RedboneChildish GambinoD minor162BPM
  9. Help MeJoni MitchellD minor164BPM
  10. Twin Skeleton’s (Hotel in NYC)Fall Out BoyD minor162BPM

Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 163 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in D minorAll songs at 163 BPMD minor at 160–169 BPMNeil Young

MusicBrainz collapses 22 recording ids into this one. Recording id 843c6839-ed55-4085-bc5a-7116cbd9f21d.