TempoPeek

Simon & Garfunkel · Bookends

Save the Life of My Child

Save the Life of My Child is in C major at 128.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

128 BPM · Allegromedian of 129 analyses · 126.6–128.2 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
100%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
129people who ran the extractor
One beat
468.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.28dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.68Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
0.979Essentia'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

129 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 129 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 126.6 to 128.2 BPM.

At 128.1 BPM one beat lasts 468.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 117.1 ms and a dotted eighth 351.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 64.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 256.2. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 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 3.28 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 0.68 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 128 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41873.50.53
Half note2936.81.07
Dotted quarter1.5702.61.42
Quarter note (one beat)1468.42.13
Quarter triplet0.667312.33.2
Dotted eighth0.75351.32.85
Eighth note0.5234.24.27
Eighth triplet0.333156.16.41
Dotted sixteenth0.375175.65.69
Sixteenth note0.25117.18.54
Sixteenth triplet0.16778.112.81
Thirty-second note0.12558.517.08

Half time 64.1 BPM · double time 256.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (468.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Just Can’t Get EnoughDepeche ModeC major128BPM
  2. IntroThe ProdigyC major128BPM
  3. All of MeMichael BubléC major128BPM
  4. I Gotta FeelingThe Black Eyed PeasC major128BPM
  5. I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)Four TopsC major128BPM
  6. Like You’ll Never See Me AgainAlicia KeysC major128BPM
  7. Seven YearsNorah JonesC major128BPM
  8. Cripple Creek FerryNeil YoungC major128BPM
  9. All or Nothing At AllFrank SinatraC major128BPM
  10. Just Can’t Get Enough (Schizo mix)Depeche ModeC major128BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 128 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 128 BPMC major at 120–129 BPMSimon & Garfunkel

MusicBrainz collapses 3 recording ids into this one. Recording id ab163937-8b84-4481-941f-bbd65e9a7104.