Rednex · Sex & Violins
Cotton Eye Joe
Cotton Eye Joe is in D minor at 132 beats per minute.
Tempo
132 BPM · Allegromedian of 340 analyses · 131.9–132.2 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 69%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 340people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 454.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 438.7Hz · -5 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 2.58dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.958Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.554Essentia'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
340 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 69% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 340 readings; 93% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 132 BPM one beat lasts 454.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 113.6 ms and a dotted eighth 340.9 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 66 BPM, counted twice as fast 264. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 438.7 Hz, which is 5 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 2.58 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 0.958 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 132 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1818.2 | 0.55 |
| Half note | 2 | 909.1 | 1.1 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 681.8 | 1.47 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 454.5 | 2.2 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 303 | 3.3 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 340.9 | 2.93 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 227.3 | 4.4 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 151.5 | 6.6 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 170.5 | 5.87 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 113.6 | 8.8 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 75.8 | 13.2 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 56.8 | 17.6 |
Half time 66 BPM · double time 264 BPM. Every row is one beat (454.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- RectifierDaft PunkD minor132BPM
- Boogie WonderlandEarth, Wind & Fire with The EmotionsD minor132BPM
- Family ManDaryl Hall & John OatesD minor131BPM
- In a LifetimeClannad & BonoD minor133BPM
- Move OverJanis JoplinD minor133BPM
- The Devil Went Down to GeorgiaThe Charlie Daniels BandD minor133BPM
- Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)Def LeppardD minor133BPM
- It Ain’t EasyDavid BowieD minor133BPM
- Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)Billy JoelD minor133BPM
- Lay All Your Love on MeABBAD minor133BPM
Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 132 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D minorAll songs at 132 BPMD minor at 130–139 BPM
MusicBrainz collapses 42 recording ids into this one. Recording id 6d436fb9-4ec7-4141-9575-739b1e02a52f.