The Rolling Stones · Tattoo You

Start Me Up

Start Me Up is in F major at 122.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

123 BPM · Allegromedian of 297 analyses · 122.1–122.7 across the middle eight tenths
Key
F major1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
88%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
297people who ran the extractor
One beat
489.8milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
439.2Hz · -3 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.53dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.92Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.196Essentia'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

297 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 88% — put it in F major, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 297 readings; 91% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 122.5 BPM one beat lasts 489.8 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 122.4 ms and a dotted eighth 367.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 61.3 BPM, counted twice as fast 245. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439.2 Hz, which is 3 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.53 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 0.92 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 F 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 F major

Each of these differs from F 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 123 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41959.20.51
Half note2979.61.02
Dotted quarter1.5734.71.36
Quarter note (one beat)1489.82.04
Quarter triplet0.667326.53.06
Dotted eighth0.75367.32.72
Eighth note0.5244.94.08
Eighth triplet0.333163.36.13
Dotted sixteenth0.375183.75.44
Sixteenth note0.25122.48.17
Sixteenth triplet0.16781.612.25
Thirty-second note0.12561.216.33

Half time 61.3 BPM · double time 245 BPM. Every row is one beat (489.8 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Money Won’t Change YouAretha FranklinF major123BPM
  2. When Lights Are LowMiles Davis QuartetF major123BPM
  3. Don’t PanicColdplayF major122BPM
  4. DesperadoAlice CooperF major122BPM
  5. Tea for OneLed ZeppelinF major123BPM
  6. Till There Was YouThe BeatlesF major122BPM
  7. The Lion Sleeps TonightThe TokensF major122BPM
  8. Long GoneBryan AdamsF major123BPM
  9. Banana Boat Song (Day‐O)Harry BelafonteF major123BPM
  10. AqualungJethro TullF major123BPM

Recordings in F major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 123 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F majorAll songs at 123 BPMF major at 120–129 BPMThe Rolling Stones

MusicBrainz collapses 456 recording ids into this one. Recording id 0b095f1f-4927-4b86-a2f7-a1b1abf5bac7.