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A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash

A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash runs at 200 BPM in the key of A# major. The prompt below describes those musical characteristics for Suno without naming the record.

This analysis has not been checked by a person. Tempo, key, and genre come straight from the software, so treat them as a starting point and trust your ears.

Measured

Tempo
200 BPM
Key
A# major
Length
3:44
Genre
country
Mood
wistful
Vocals
Vocal

Suno prompt

A wistful country track with explosive energy and a swung feel at 200 BPM. The low end is electric bass playing root-note anchored, under an acoustic drum kit with a clap-layered snare and washy crash-led cymbals. Acoustic guitar carries the harmony, fingerpicked. The arrangement follows verse-chorus. A warm male vocal delivers a restrained and conversational performance. Field-recording ambience adds texture, with a slapback delay on the vocal. Mixed in a lo-fi and saturated style, foregrounding vocal clarity and low-end weight, built on chromatic and shifting chords, leaving a tense and coiled atmosphere.

Paste this into Suno's style field. It describes the sound only — adjust anything that does not match what you are after.

What the analysis found

Bass instrument
electric bass
Bassline style
root-note anchored
Tempo
200
Chords
chromatic and shifting
Cymbals
washy crash-led cymbals
Energy
explosive
Atmosphere
tense and coiled
Genre
country
Harmonic instrument
acoustic guitar
Harmonic style
fingerpicked
Mixing style
lo-fi and saturated
Mood
wistful
Percussion
an acoustic drum kit
Rhythmic style
swung
Snare
clap-layered
Sonic focus
vocal clarity
Secondary focus
low-end weight
Space
a slapback delay
Structure
verse-chorus
Textural detail
field-recording ambience
Vocal style
restrained and conversational
Vocal
a warm male vocal

About this page

This is an independent acoustic analysis. Tempo and key are measured from the audio; instrumentation and production characteristics are classified against a fixed vocabulary. The source recording is deleted once the analysis finishes, and no lyrics from it are stored.

Planetary Records is not affiliated with Johnny Cash. The prompt describes musical characteristics and does not reproduce the recording.

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