"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Firth of Fifth" by Genesis. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: contemplative, melancholy. Visual style: 1970s editorial print aesthetic, sun-faded color. 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."
Firth of Fifth
Genesis
Selling England by the Pound (1973)
Balanced energy, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
80
BPM
Firth of Fifth by Genesis is 80 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 40 BPM · Double-time 160 BPM · released 1973
Fan image for "Firth of Fifth"
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: melodic, intricate
Recommended for: focus meltdown recovery
Middle of the road on intensity, in the best way. It lurches between soft and loud with just a little movement, over a densely layered texture. A light, easy vocal, at an unhurried mid-tempo. It’s easy enough to follow without going flat. Across the library, it sits more energetic than 35% of songs, calmer than the rest.
Cultural Context
Represents the peak of 1970s British progressive rock.
Listening Prompt
Listen for the piano interlude and how it weaves into the overall composition.
What to Expect
Genesis's 1973 recording from Selling England by the Pound carries a dynamic range of 7 — enough variation to feel genuinely expressive, with real movement between quiet and loud that requires setting volume thoughtfully. Texture is layered and predictability is medium, meaning the arrangement has complexity and doesn't always follow the most obvious path, but it isn't chaotic or structurally elusive. Mild sudden changes signal that when shifts occur they arrive without extreme abruptness. Soft vocals sit within a layered context at 80 BPM — a moderate, unhurried pace. Misophonia trigger data is unavailable. Moderate sensory level. The contemplative and melancholy mood profile, combined with recommendations for focus and meltdown recovery, suggests this track rewards attentive listening at a calm moment rather than active-task background use. The medium predictability means it can hold interest through multiple listens without becoming repetitive — which may support sustained concentration. At over ten minutes in runtime, the pace and layered texture are designed for extended, unhurried engagement.
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Hear it the way it was made
The right gear changes everything.
Moods: contemplative, melancholy
Traditions: progressive rock
Volume Warning
"Firth of Fifth" climbs hard.
Dynamic range 7/10 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. Genesis built the dynamic shape on purpose. Plan around it.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 7/10 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 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: soft vocals.
Where this sits in Genesis's catalog
We have 22 songs from Genesis in the library. Of those, 6 are rated Safe, 7 Moderate, and 9 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 7/10 sits at the artist average of 7.0, making it the #10 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
1973 context
Released in 1973. We have 297 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.4/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 1970s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Traditions
progressive rock · 300Guides that may help
Why Post-Rock Works for Focus — The Logic of Slow Builds
Why post-rock holds attention that slides off everything else: long builds, few sudden changes, and …
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much — A guide for sensory-sensitive…
How to Build the Perfect Focus Playlist for Work — A Sensory-Rated Approach
How to Build the Perfect Focus Playlist for Work — A Sensory-Rated Approach — A guide for sensory-se…
How fast is "Firth of Fifth"?
80 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
Morning coffee, deep work, commute wind-down.
Browse more songs at 80 BPM.
When "Firth of Fifth" 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
No — 80 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.
Why Post-Rock Works for Focus — The Logic of Slow Builds
Why post-rock holds attention that slides off everything else: long builds, few sudden changes, and enough happening to occupy the part of y…
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
How to Build the Perfect Focus Playlist for Work — A Sensory-Rated Approach
How to Build the Perfect Focus Playlist for Work — A Sensory-Rated Approach — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
Why this rating
We rate this song Moderate because it falls between our Safe and Intense thresholds on at least one dimension. Moderate is the default for most well-produced music that has real arc but no surprise elements. Full rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
41/100 intensity
See how “Firth of Fifth” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
Listen on
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For focused listening
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-06-20. 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 35% of songs, calmer than the other 65%. Its intensity reading of 41/100 comes from a dynamic range of 7/10, layered texture, mild shifts, and soft 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 slow, unhurried pace: more extreme on that axis than 85% 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
Dust to Dust — The Civil Wars · 99%Como La Flor — Banda MS · 99%Varúð — Sigur Rós · 99%Soul on Fire — Spiritualized · 99%
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
Sleep5/10
Focus10/10
Workout2/10
Dinner8/10
Party / hype3/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1973 in context
The 297 songs we’ve measured from 1973 average a dynamic range of 6.4/10. At 7/10, this track is right in line with its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Lovely — Billie Eilish & KhalidThe Only Living Boy in New York — Simon & GarfunkelComo La Flor — Banda MS
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity41
Dynamics67
Tempo22
Surprise25
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force25
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Firth of Fifth"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Firth of Fifth" by Genesis?
"Firth of Fifth" by Genesis has a tempo of 80 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 40 BPM, and at double-time 160 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Firth of Fifth" by Genesis?
"Firth of Fifth" by Genesis rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 7/10, mild sudden changes, layered texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.
How loud is "Firth of Fifth" — what is its dynamic range?
"Firth of Fifth" has a dynamic range of 7/10. Noticeable climb from quiet sections to loudest point. Set opening volume slightly lower than your preferred peak.
Does "Firth of Fifth" have sudden or surprising changes?
"Firth of Fifth" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
What is "Firth of Fifth" best for?
In our library "Firth of Fifth" is recommended for: focus, meltdown recovery. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Firth of Fifth" released?
"Firth of Fifth" is from 1973, on the album "Selling England by the Pound". It appears in our 1970s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Firth of Fifth"?
We tag "Firth of Fifth" as contemplative, melancholy. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Firth of Fifth"?
The vocal style is soft vocals.
Is "Firth of Fifth" good for running?
Not really — at 80 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "Firth of Fifth" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (7/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "Firth of Fifth" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "Firth of Fifth"?
"Firth of Fifth" is Moderate intensity — fine for most listeners, but with enough dynamic activity that it works best as active listening rather than background.
Songs with the same DNA
layered texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
Safer alternatives with a similar feel
These songs share similar moods but with a gentler sensory profile.
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.