A.I. Lyrics
Previously, I was writing on here about AI and the results of asking Chat GPT questions about music to which some of us humans might very well struggle to provide a clear or definitive answer. Obviously I also asked it to write some lyrics! Tim Burgess out of The Charlatans also obviously thought of doing this and beat me to sharing his results on Twitter, he also has the advantage of his band being successful and well known, which means he was able to ask it to write them in the style of The Charlatans, which is pretty clever. I think if I had done that for myself it would’ve responded “in the style of who?”
So, to give it something to work with I asked it to write lyrics based on the title of a painting. Just to annoy it I picked a Salvador Dali painting with a characteristically preposterous title. Chat GPT tactfully described it as an ‘unusual’ title, which is fair. Here’s what it came up with:
Can you write a song based on the title of a painting?
Certainly, I can give it a try! Please provide me with the title of a painting you would like me to use as inspiration for the song.
‘Average Atmospherocephalic Bureaucrat in the Act of Milking a Cranial Harp’ [Salvador Dali painting]
!
1 / 2
Wow, that's quite an unusual title! But I'll do my best to come up with a song based on it. Here goes:
Verse 1:
He sits at his desk with a blank expression
A bureaucrat in every way
His mind is numb from all the repetition
He goes through the motions day by day
Chorus:
But then he reaches for his cranial harp
And begins to play a tune
It's like a breath of fresh air in a stale room
As he milks the notes like a precious fruit
Verse 2:
His colleagues look at him in confusion
As he strums away with a smile
They think he's lost his mind in delusion
But little do they know it's been a while
Chorus:
Since he's felt this alive, this connected
To something beyond the mundane
And as he plays on, his heart is affected
By the magic of his cranial harp's refrains
Bridge:
It's not just an instrument, it's a way of being
A tool to escape the bureaucracy
And as he plucks the strings, he feels like he's seeing
A world beyond the surface, where anything can be
Chorus:
So let him milk his cranial harp in peace
Let him find his own path in life
For in his music, he's found a release
From the average atmospherocephalic strife.
network error
Top of Form
There was an error generating a response
Bottom of Form
[Trying to come up with any more or process what it had just created clearly fried something here so it had another go!]…
Verse 1:
He sits there with his head so high
A cranial harp, he'll soon apply
But before he does, he needs to milk
The bureaucratic ways, he's learned to silk
Chorus:
He's the average atmospherocephalic bureaucrat
Milking a cranial harp, he's where it's at
The notes he'll play, will take us high
And with his power, we'll all comply
Verse 2:
His fingers move with such great ease
A master of this strange disease
The harp begins to hum and sing
And all around, we hear its ring
Chorus:
He's the average atmospherocephalic bureaucrat
Milking a cranial harp, he's where it's at
The notes he'll play, will take us high
And with his power, we'll all comply
Bridge:
But don't be fooled by his disguise
For power can corrupt the wise
And soon enough, we'll all be pawns In his bureaucratic song
Chorus:
He's the average atmospherocephalic bureaucrat
Milking a cranial harp, he's where it's at
The notes he'll play, will take us high
And with his power, we'll all comply
Outro:
So let us beware of this man
With his harp and bureaucratic plan
For though his music may be sweet
His intentions we must always meet.
…Dylan or Lennon and McCartney it is not, granted. There again, their time is probably well past, whether you regard their work as timeless or not and we are always looking for what comes next. Also, it may not be fair to judge these offerings when they’re not combined with any music since there’s some pretty banal gobsh*te that somehow gets lifted towards higher significance when it’s married to its musical component. Lyrical content doesn’t actually necessarily have to be incredibly deep or use sophisticated lyrical and poetic forms because it works as a part of a larger whole that includes music. The balance in a piece can still work when the emphasis isn’t really on the particular words used. What I think I’m saying is that if I made these words part of a catchy enough song with an undeniable tune, rhythm etc. then they could be something more than what they appear when we’re just reading them off a page. They may not be ‘timeless’ and stand up to repeated listening and interpretation but they could work.
As I try to think of a way to sign this off I’m realising that the instant response to this last paragraph would be: “prove it.”
We’ll see…