"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "This Charming Man" by The Smiths. Dramatic quiet-to-loud arc, stormy climax. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: energetic, joyful. Visual style: 1980s editorial aesthetic, neon accents against moody ground. Painterly, grainy film texture, muted palette with strategic accent colors. The composition should read left-to-right like a timeline — calm on one side, intensifying toward the other. Strictly no faces, no text, no logos, no literal objects, no band imagery. Pure color-field abstraction with emotional weight. 16:9 editorial format."
This Charming Man
The Smiths
The Smiths (US version) / Hatful of Hollow (UK single) (1983)
Balanced energy, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
142
BPM
This Charming Man by The Smiths is 142 BPM — Allegro (fast).
Half-time 71 BPM · Double-time 284 BPM · released 1983
Fan image for "This Charming Man"
An abstract illustration of what this song feels like. Each image is built from a prompt — the text description fed to the image generator. Listeners submit their own prompts, upvote the ones that fit best, and the top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. After 100 image votes, we make a new picture.
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Song DNA
Notes: Bright guitar riffs and melodic vocals.
Recommended for: emotional release movement
A balanced track — neither sleepy nor charged. It’s easy enough to follow without going flat. It swings widely from quiet to loud with just a little movement, multi-layered in texture, with a big, expressive vocal out front at a brisk, driving tempo. On our 19,209-song scale, it sits more energetic than 42% of songs, calmer than the rest.
Cultural Context
An anthem of the 80s indie scene.
Listening Prompt
Think about your first crush.
What to Expect
Starts with a catchy guitar intro, building up to a vibrant chorus.
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Hear it the way it was made
The right gear changes everything.
Moods: energetic, joyful
Volume Warning
"This Charming Man" climbs hard.
Dynamic range 8/10 places this in our upper band. The opening volume that feels comfortable will not be comfortable at the climax. If you are setting this up for a focused listen, anchor your volume to the quietest section, not the loudest. The arc is the point of the song; if you blunt it by riding the volume knob, you lose what makes it work. The Smiths built the dynamic shape on purpose. Plan around it.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 8/10 is in the upper band of our library. This song has a significant quiet-to-loud arc. For sensory-sensitive listening, set the opening volume well below your comfortable top-end; the climax will land harder than the intro suggests.
Sudden changes: mild. There are one or two transitions worth knowing about, though they're musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
Texture is layered — a full arrangement with clear separation between parts.
Predictability is medium — conventional structure overall, with one or two moments that deviate from what you'd expect.
Vocal style: dynamic vocals.
Where this sits in The Smiths's catalog
We have 34 songs from The Smiths in the library. Of those, 7 are rated Safe, 23 Moderate, and 4 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 8/10 sits above the artist average of 6.5, making it the #3 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
1983 context
Released in 1983. We have 242 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.5/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 1980s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
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A Change Is Gonna Come: Sam Cooke’s Anthem Born From Being Turned Away
Sam Cooke wrote A Change Is Gonna Come after being refused at a whites-only motel and hearing Dylan’…
How fast is "This Charming Man"?
142 BPM — Fast (workout / running pace)
For running
Steady-state running pace. Matches most recreational runners' natural cadence.
For workouts
Running, cycling, aerobic workouts, dance cardio.
For daily life
Active tasks, getting pumped up, party, anything high-energy.
Browse more songs at 142 BPM.
When "This Charming Man" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
✗
Focus / studying
No — too dynamic or too many surprises. Save for active listening.
✓
Running / workout
Yes — 142 BPM sits squarely in the running / cardio band. Matches natural stride cadence.
✗
Sleep / winding down
No — contains elements that will keep an awake nervous system engaged.
✓
Driving / road trip
Yes — predictable enough for safe driving attention, interesting enough to stay engaged.
✓
Cooking / dinner background
Yes — sits in the background without demanding attention.
~
Emotional release / catharsis
Not really — it's pleasant but doesn't hit hard enough for cathartic listening.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
Nick Cave's albums ranked by emotional darkness — which one is your nervous system ready for?
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds made some of the most devastating music in rock history. But not all darkness is the same. This guide ranks his …
Acoustic doesn't mean gentle — the quiet songs that wreck you
We treat 'acoustic' as a synonym for safe and soft. But some of the most emotionally intense music ever recorded is one voice and one guitar…
A Sensory Guide to Every Radiohead Album — From Safe to Intense
A Sensory Guide to Every Radiohead Album — From Safe to Intense — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
Why this rating
We rate this song Safe because its dynamic range stays within our low-variance band, there are no unsignaled changes, and the texture and vocal style are both in the low-fatigue range. Our methodology uses an AND rule for Safe — a song has to clear every dimension to earn the rating.
This song in the Music Studio
45/100 intensity
See how “This Charming Man” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-05. Reviewed by the Music I Want editorial team against the documented methodology.
Think this rating is wrong? Contact the editor — every message is read and ratings get revised.
By the numbers: how this song compares
Computed from this song’s place among the 19,209 songs we’ve measured.
Where it sits in 19,000 songs
On our 19k-song scale this lands in the middle band — more energetic than 42% of songs, calmer than the other 58%. Its intensity reading of 45/100 comes from a dynamic range of 8/10, layered texture, mild shifts, and dynamic vocals. It shares this stretch of the spectrum with thousands of other tracks, so the finer fingerprint below is what really separates it.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is a fast, driving tempo: more extreme on that axis than 93% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on near-total stillness — steady volume, no surprises, a slow and unhurried pulse — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) — Ella Fitzgerald · 95%Jet — Wings · 94%Ghosts 'n' Stuff — Deadmau5 · 94%Mr. Brightside — The Killers · 94%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
Dial the feeling up or down
Same feeling, bigger: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) — Ella Fitzgerald
What it’s good for
Sleep3/10
Focus8/10
Workout6/10
Dinner8/10
Party / hype5/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1983 in context
The 242 songs we’ve measured from 1983 average a dynamic range of 6.5/10. At 8/10, this track is louder and more dynamic than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) — Ella FitzgeraldBigmouth Strikes Again — The SmithsBeat It — Michael Jackson
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity45
Dynamics78
Tempo57
Surprise25
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "This Charming Man"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "This Charming Man" by The Smiths?
"This Charming Man" by The Smiths has a tempo of 142 BPM (Allegro (fast)). At half-time that is 71 BPM, and at double-time 284 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "This Charming Man" by The Smiths?
"This Charming Man" by The Smiths rates as Low-Intensity. Dynamic range 8/10, mild sudden changes, layered texture. Our Low-Intensity rating means no single dimension triggers the higher-intensity thresholds.
How loud is "This Charming Man" — what is its dynamic range?
"This Charming Man" has a dynamic range of 8/10. Substantial quiet-to-loud arc. Start at a volume well below your top-end; the climax will land harder than the intro suggests.
Does "This Charming Man" have sudden or surprising changes?
"This Charming Man" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
What is "This Charming Man" best for?
In our library "This Charming Man" is recommended for: emotional release, movement. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "This Charming Man" released?
"This Charming Man" is from 1983, on the album "The Smiths (US version) / Hatful of Hollow (UK single)". It appears in our 1980s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "This Charming Man"?
We tag "This Charming Man" as energetic, joyful. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "This Charming Man"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "This Charming Man" good for running?
Yes — at 142 BPM it sits in the running-cadence band (120-180 BPM). Match your stride to the beat and it keeps pace with most recreational runners.
Is "This Charming Man" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (8/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "This Charming Man" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "This Charming Man"?
If you want gentle, low-arousal music, "This Charming Man" is a solid pick — Low-Intensity across every sensory dimension.
Songs with the same DNA
layered texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
What this song means to people
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.