"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" by Patti Smith. Dramatic quiet-to-loud arc, stormy climax. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: energetic, intense, rebellious. 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."
Real momentum, more energetic than 85% of our 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for workout.
135
BPM
Gloria: In Excelsis Deo by Patti Smith is 135 BPM — Allegro (fast).
Half-time 68 BPM · Double-time 270 BPM · released 1975
Fan image for "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo"
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: Begins with haunting, slow piano and spoken poetry building tension, then erupts into piercing guitars, driving drums, and raw intensity. Repetitive riffs and shouts create an assaultive, punk energy with high emotional peaks.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: deep listening emotional release energy
Patti Smith's punk reimagining of Van Morrison's 'Gloria' opens with defiant poetry rejecting religious guilt before exploding into a raw, gender-fluid rock narrative of desire and rebellion.
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Hear it the way it was made
The right gear changes everything.
Moods: energetic, intense, rebellious
Traditions: proto-punk, punk rock
Intense — what to expect
"Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" is in our intense band.
At least one of our five sensory dimensions crosses the threshold that means "this can be a lot." Most commonly: dynamic vocals or layered texture, or a dynamic range of 8/10. The full breakdown is below. If you arrived here looking for a calmer alternative, our use-case verdicts section flags songs with similar mood but lower intensity.
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: present. This song uses surprise as a feature. For focus or background listening, it's likely to pull your attention away; for active listening, that's often the point.
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 Patti Smith's catalog
We have 17 songs from Patti Smith in the library. Of those, 0 are rated Safe, 10 Moderate, and 7 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 8/10 sits above the artist average of 6.9, making it the #2 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from Horses
We have 8 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans intense in sensory profile.
- Redondo Beach — moderate DR 5
- Birdland — intense DR 8
- Free Money — intense DR 8
- Break It Up — intense DR 9
- Land — intense DR 8
- Elegie — moderate DR 6
- Kimberly — moderate DR 6
1975 context
Released in 1975. We have 249 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.2/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 1970s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
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Even Flow: Pearl Jam’s Song for the Man Everyone Walks Past
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How fast is "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo"?
135 BPM — Fast (workout / running pace)
For running
Slow jog or recovery run pace. Matches a 120-140 stride-per-minute cadence.
For workouts
Running, cycling, aerobic workouts, dance cardio.
For daily life
Driving, getting ready in the morning, light party.
Browse more songs at 135 BPM.
When "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" 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 — 135 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
Maybe — the intensity / sudden changes are fine for solo highway driving but skip for city or rainy-weather driving.
✗
Cooking / dinner background
No — too active to function as background; will pull attention away from what you're doing.
✓
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.
I rated every Billie Eilish album by emotional intensity
From bedroom ASMR whispers to walls of distortion — a deep sensory dive into all three Billie Eilish studio albums and what each one actuall…
I Listened to Every Radiohead Album Through a Sensory Lens — Here's What I Found
Radiohead's nine albums analyzed through dynamic range, texture, and emotional intensity — from Pablo Honey's raw stadium rock to A Moon Sha…
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 …
Why this rating
We rate this song Intense. Our rule is deliberately conservative: any one of high dynamic range, present sudden changes, harsh texture, or a strained/screamed vocal is enough to trigger Intense on its own. Full scoring rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
65/100 intensity
See how “Gloria: In Excelsis Deo” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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If this one is too much: sensory-overload protection
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-14. 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
This is one of the more intense things in our library — more energetic than 85% of the 19,209 songs we've measured. Its intensity reading of 65/100 comes from a dynamic range of 8/10, layered texture, moderate shifts, and dynamic vocals. Relatively few songs occupy this exact corner of the spectrum.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is a fast, driving tempo: more extreme on that axis than 89% 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
I Need a Man — Eurythmics · 98%Harvester of Sorrow — Metallica · 96%Alone + Easy Target — Foo Fighters · 96%Die With Your Boots On — Iron Maiden · 96%
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
Sleep0/10
Focus3/10
Workout7/10
Dinner6/10
Party / hype7/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1975 in context
The 249 songs we’ve measured from 1975 average a dynamic range of 6.2/10. At 8/10, this track is louder and more dynamic than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity65
Dynamics78
Tempo53
Surprise50
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load50
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" by Patti Smith?
"Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" by Patti Smith has a tempo of 135 BPM (Allegro (fast)). At half-time that is 68 BPM, and at double-time 270 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" by Patti Smith?
"Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" by Patti Smith rates as Intense. Dynamic range 8/10, moderate sudden changes, layered texture, dynamic vocals vocal style. Any one of high dynamic range, present sudden changes, or harsh texture triggers the Intense rating.
How loud is "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" — what is its dynamic range?
"Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" 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 "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" have sudden or surprising changes?
Yes. "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" uses surprise as a compositional feature. Expect unsignaled transitions.
What is "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" best for?
In our library "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" is recommended for: deep listening, emotional release, energy. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" released?
"Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" is from 1975, on the album "Horses". It appears in our 1970s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo"?
We tag "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" as energetic, intense, rebellious. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" good for running?
Yes — at 135 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 "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" 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 "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Too intense overall.
Should I listen to "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo"?
"Gloria: In Excelsis Deo" is Intense in our ratings — dramatic dynamics, possible sudden changes, or strong vocal or textural energy. Best with intention rather than ambient use. If you are sensory-sensitive, the alternatives section surfaces calmer songs in the same mood family.
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.
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