The Smiths · Sheila Take a Bow

Sheila Take a Bow

Sheila Take a Bow is in E major at 125.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

125 BPM · Allegromedian of 166 analyses · 125.2–125.4 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
99%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
166people who ran the extractor
One beat
478.9milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441Hz · +4 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.46dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.96Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.213Essentia'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

166 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 166 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 125.3 BPM one beat lasts 478.9 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 119.7 ms and a dotted eighth 359.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 62.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 250.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441 Hz, which is 4 cents above 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 2.46 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 0.96 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 E 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 E major

Each of these differs from E 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 125 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41915.40.52
Half note2957.71.04
Dotted quarter1.5718.31.39
Quarter note (one beat)1478.92.09
Quarter triplet0.667319.23.13
Dotted eighth0.75359.12.78
Eighth note0.5239.44.18
Eighth triplet0.333159.66.27
Dotted sixteenth0.375179.65.57
Sixteenth note0.25119.78.35
Sixteenth triplet0.16779.812.53
Thirty-second note0.12559.916.71

Half time 62.7 BPM · double time 250.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (478.9 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. She’s ElectricOasisE major125BPM
  2. LegsZZ TopE major125BPM
  3. Hear MeImagine DragonsE major125BPM
  4. Little BirdAnnie LennoxE major125BPM
  5. I Feel for YouChaka KhanE major125BPM
  6. VenusBananaramaE major126BPM
  7. Indoor FireworksThe Costello Show feat. The Attractions and ConfederatesE major126BPM
  8. Shiny Happy PeopleR.E.M.E major125BPM
  9. Sorry for LoveCéline DionE major126BPM
  10. LevelsAviciiE major126BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 125 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 125 BPME major at 120–129 BPMThe Smiths

MusicBrainz collapses 14 recording ids into this one. Recording id 0bc8ce8a-e8bc-42f3-8ca7-dd2f22f18b56.