The Smiths · The Queen Is Dead

There Is a Light That Never Goes Out

There Is a Light That Never Goes Out is in E major at 136.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

136 BPM · Allegromedian of 224 analyses · 136.2–136.4 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
94%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
224people who ran the extractor
One beat
440.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
440.5Hz · +2 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.97dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.934Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.183Essentia'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

224 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 94% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 224 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 136.3 BPM one beat lasts 440.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 110.1 ms and a dotted eighth 330.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 68.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 272.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.5 Hz, which is 2 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 3.97 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 0.934 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 136 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41760.80.57
Half note2880.41.14
Dotted quarter1.5660.31.51
Quarter note (one beat)1440.22.27
Quarter triplet0.667293.53.41
Dotted eighth0.75330.23.03
Eighth note0.5220.14.54
Eighth triplet0.333146.76.82
Dotted sixteenth0.375165.16.06
Sixteenth note0.25110.19.09
Sixteenth triplet0.16773.413.63
Thirty-second note0.1255518.17

Half time 68.2 BPM · double time 272.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (440.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Learn to FlyFoo FightersE major136BPM
  2. Shot of LoveAC/DCE major136BPM
  3. Vivo per leiAndrea Bocelli feat. GiorgiaE major136BPM
  4. EchoesPink FloydE major136BPM
  5. The Spirit of RadioRushE major136BPM
  6. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt CheapAC/DCE major135BPM
  7. Living After MidnightJudas PriestE major135BPM
  8. Scared to Be LonelyMartin Garrix & Dua LipaE major137BPM
  9. Kisses of FireABBAE major135BPM
  10. Day TripperThe BeatlesE major138BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 136 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 136 BPME major at 130–139 BPMThe Smiths

MusicBrainz collapses 52 recording ids into this one. Recording id f87a0c54-60ef-4db1-9628-96677504692d.