Body and Soul

Billie Holiday
Body and Soul (1941)
Safe 70 BPM
AI-analyzed — check another song
Easy, low-key calm, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
70
BPM

Body and Soul by Billie Holiday is 70 BPM — Adagio (slow).

Half-time 35 BPM · Double-time 140 BPM · released 1941

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Fan image for "Body and Soul"

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.

Fan-driven abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of Body and Soul by Billie Holiday
The prompt that made this image Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Body and Soul" by Billie Holiday. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. balanced composition. Mood: introspective, melancholy, reflective. Visual style: 1941 vintage painting aesthetic, warm aged tones. 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.

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"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Body and Soul" by Billie Holiday. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. balanced composition. Mood: introspective, melancholy, reflective. Visual style: 1941 vintage painting aesthetic, warm aged tones. 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."

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Song DNA

Dynamic Range6/10
Sudden Changesmild
Texturesmooth
Predictabilitymedium
Vocal Stylesoft vocals
Notes: The song features a smooth, flowing melody with soft, emotive vocals that create a warm atmosphere. The instrumentation complements the vocals, enhancing the overall soothing experience.

Misophonia Triggers

Mouth Soundsnone
Percussive Clicksnone
Breathing Soundsmild
Repetitive Micro-soundsnone

A classic jazz standard, 'Body and Soul' showcases Billie Holiday's emotive vocal delivery and intricate phrasing, making it a timeless piece in the jazz repertoire.

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Hear it the way it was made

The right gear changes everything.

Moods: introspective, melancholy, reflective

Traditions: jazz

Quiet Track

"Body and Soul" sits at 70 BPM. Built for stillness.

This is well below typical speech rhythm. The body reads slow tempo as permission to rest. Smooth texture and soft vocals keep the foreground spare. Good candidates for use: falling asleep, processing a hard day, slow mornings, study sessions where the music must not pull at you. Avoid for any task that needs alertness — the piece works against it.

How this song sits on each sensory axis

A dynamic range of 6/10 means this song moves. Expect a real volume climb between quiet sections and the loudest part of the arrangement — enough that you may want to set the initial volume below where you'd normally land.

Sudden changes: mild. There are one or two transitions worth knowing about, though they're musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.

Texture: smooth.

Predictability is medium — conventional structure overall, with one or two moments that deviate from what you'd expect.

Vocal style: soft vocals.

Where this sits in Billie Holiday's catalog

We have 25 songs from Billie Holiday in the library. Of those, 8 are rated Safe, 16 Moderate, and 1 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 6/10 sits below the artist average of 6.1, making it the #11 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.

1941 context

Released in 1941. We have 9 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.1/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 1940s.

Explore by mood and tradition

Moods
introspective · 5733melancholy · 5408reflective · 5797
Traditions
jazz · 890

How fast is "Body and Soul"?

70 BPM — Slow (downtempo / ballad)

For running

Too slow for most running; good for warm-up walks or cool-down.

For workouts

Warm-up, cool-down, yoga, stretching.

For daily life

Sleep, meditation, reading, focus work.

Browse more songs at 70 BPM.

When "Body and Soul" works, and when it doesn't

Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.

~
Focus / studying

Maybe — fine for routine work, but the mid-song changes may pull attention during deep focus.

✗
Running / workout

No — 70 BPM is too slow for sustained cardio.

✗
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

Yes — this is a song for actively feeling what you came to feel, not for background.

Related reading

Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.

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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
32/100 intensity

See how “Body and Soul” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.

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Spotify and YouTube links go direct to the track when we have the ID; otherwise they search for it. Embed this sensory profile on your site →

Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-16. 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 21% of songs, calmer than the other 79%. Its intensity reading of 32/100 comes from a dynamic range of 6/10, smooth texture, mild shifts, and soft vocals. Relatively few songs occupy this exact corner of the spectrum.

What makes it unusual

What stands out most about this song is a slow, unhurried pace: more extreme on that axis than 96% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on full chaos — sudden changes, huge quiet-to-loud swings, and relentless energy — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.

Feels almost identical to

Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.

What it’s good for

Sleep6/10
Focus10/10
Workout2/10
Dinner8/10
Party / hype2/10

Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.

1941 in context

The 9 songs we’ve measured from 1941 average a dynamic range of 6.1/10. At 6/10, this track is right in line with its year.

Mixes smoothly with

Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.

The fingerprint

Intensity32
Dynamics56
Tempo17
Surprise25
Density0
Predictability50
Vocal force25
Trigger load13

The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.

Frequently asked about "Body and Soul"

Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.

What is the BPM of "Body and Soul" by Billie Holiday?

"Body and Soul" by Billie Holiday has a tempo of 70 BPM (Adagio (slow)). At half-time that is 35 BPM, and at double-time 140 BPM.

What is the sensory intensity of "Body and Soul" by Billie Holiday?

"Body and Soul" by Billie Holiday rates as Low-Intensity. Dynamic range 6/10, mild sudden changes, smooth texture. Our Low-Intensity rating means no single dimension triggers the higher-intensity thresholds.

How loud is "Body and Soul" — what is its dynamic range?

"Body and Soul" has a dynamic range of 6/10. Noticeable climb from quiet sections to loudest point. Set opening volume slightly lower than your preferred peak.

Does "Body and Soul" have sudden or surprising changes?

"Body and Soul" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.

What is "Body and Soul" best for?

In our library "Body and Soul" is recommended for: deep listening, emotional release, relaxation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.

When was "Body and Soul" released?

"Body and Soul" is from 1941, on the album "Body and Soul". It appears in our 1940s catalog.

What is the emotional mood of "Body and Soul"?

We tag "Body and Soul" as introspective, melancholy, reflective. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.

What is the vocal style of "Body and Soul"?

The vocal style is soft vocals.

Is "Body and Soul" good for running?

Not really — at 70 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.

Is "Body and Soul" good for studying?

Only partially. The song's dynamic range (6/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.

Can I use "Body and Soul" for sleep?

Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.

Should I listen to "Body and Soul"?

If you want gentle, low-arousal music, "Body and Soul" is a solid pick — Low-Intensity across every sensory dimension.

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smooth texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.

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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.

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