Beth
by KISS
- 115
- BPM
- C major
- Key
- 8B
- Camelot
- 41
- Danceability
- 88
- Acousticness
For the recording of "Beth", producer Bob Ezrin brought the New York Philharmonic orchestra and musician Dick Wagner into the A&R studio, with Wagner standing in for Ace Frehley. Frehley did not take part because he was playing cards with friends, according to Peter Criss and Gene Simmons. When the orchestra arrived, Ezrin suggested that all 25 members wear fake tuxedos and that Criss appear in his trademark makeup for photographs. Ezrin put on a top hat and played the grand piano. Criss was alone in the studio when he recorded the vocals at the Record Plant. "Beth" is the only Kiss song with no instrumentals from any member of the band.
It began as "Beck", a demo Criss wrote with Stan Penridge about Becky, the wife of a bandmate, who kept calling rehearsals to ask when her husband was coming home. Ezrin reworked it and recommended the title "Beth".
Casablanca Records first released it as the B-side to "Detroit Rock City" in July 1976. Disc jockeys played it instead, and it was reissued in August as an A-side. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, went gold, and won the 1977 People's Choice Award for Favorite Song.
Beth runs at 115 BPM, the tempo of pop, funk and disco-leaning dance. In classical terms it sits in moderato territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.09 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 522 ms. It is in C major, Camelot 8B, which shares its notes with A minor and mixes cleanly with F major and G major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.