TempoPeek

Talking Heads · Fear of Music

Life During Wartime

Life During Wartime is in A minor at 133 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

133 BPM · Allegromedian of 157 analyses · 133–138.5 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
81%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
157people who ran the extractor
One beat
451.1milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
442Hz · +8 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.25dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.869Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.876Essentia'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

157 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 81% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 157 readings; 80% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 133 to 138.5 BPM.

At 133 BPM one beat lasts 451.1 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 112.8 ms and a dotted eighth 338.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 66.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 266. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 442 Hz, which is 8 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 5.25 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 0.869 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 A 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 A minor

Each of these differs from A 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 133 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41804.50.55
Half note2902.31.11
Dotted quarter1.5676.71.48
Quarter note (one beat)1451.12.22
Quarter triplet0.667300.83.33
Dotted eighth0.75338.32.96
Eighth note0.5225.64.43
Eighth triplet0.333150.46.65
Dotted sixteenth0.375169.25.91
Sixteenth note0.25112.88.87
Sixteenth triplet0.16775.213.3
Thirty-second note0.12556.417.73

Half time 66.5 BPM · double time 266 BPM. Every row is one beat (451.1 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. ExodusBob Marley & The WailersA minor133BPM
  2. Walk on the WaterCreedence Clearwater RevivalA minor133BPM
  3. Everything’s Coming Our WaySantanaA minor133BPM
  4. Line UpAerosmithA minor133BPM
  5. TalismanAirA minor133BPM
  6. Howlin’ for YouThe Black KeysA minor133BPM
  7. Keep Yourself AliveQueenA minor133BPM
  8. Arnold LaynePink FloydA minor133BPM
  9. Love Me Two TimesThe DoorsA minor133BPM
  10. El mañanaGorillazA minor132BPM

Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 133 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A minorAll songs at 133 BPMA minor at 130–139 BPMTalking Heads

MusicBrainz collapses 45 recording ids into this one. Recording id e2209423-291a-46ea-b3e9-935be1a5b41f.