Chat GPT Writes Terrible Lyrics (But Is Still Very Helpful)

There’s been a recent and jarring realization for me that I’ve been living life with painfully advanced AI literally accessible on my phone at all times. I feel interchangeably frantic and excited, like I’m in a huge quarry and I’ve been promised a million dollars if I find the exact rock it is hidden under. It is truly a skill discovering the most useful questions to ask, and how to take advantage of the instantaneous feedback you receive. But I feel less discouraged considering my last conversation about Open AI’s Chat GPT over this weekend— I’m grateful I’m finding use for it, and not superstitiously avoiding it like it’s evil black magic that will possess all my faculties and melt me down into goo (essentially the response I was given).

In my journey to find ways for me to use this fascinating tool, I had already discovered it was a wonderful collaborator when it came to interpreting complex fictional plots. Anything particularly causal, and which has distinct rules governing it (even if you made up the rules yourself), it excels at helping with. I was able to plot out double the amount I had already finished plotting for my current work-in-progress sci-fi novel, Raptured Planet (more on that in future posts.) I strongly dislike using it for the construction of the actual wordage, but it does a wonderful job with summaries and general guidance to keep you focused.

Though extremely helpful for my novel, I had to find a way to use this technology for my primary interest, songwriting. I had started by allowing it to analyze and describe the meter and rhyme scheme of a particularly free-form song of mine, which went like this at the time:

Verse 1: To hold on, to hold on forever / looking back, a forest full of young men gather / round a fire, round a burning pyre / of eternal youth, eternal youth.

Chorus 1: The squirrel whispers, words just like an icy chatter / eagle filters prey, does not know what's the matter / and my love is the same as yesterday / and my love is the same as yesterday.

Verse 2: Little man, little pink young man / gather forces, pull your spirits taut and / round a fire, round a burning pyre / of eternal youth, eternal youth.

Chorus 2: The Thunderbird it holds us like a nest of children / and it seems that way, because we never listen / and my love is the same as yesterday / and my love is the same as yesterday.

Now, I am a huge fan of these lyrics. Often I’ll settle for less poetic density to maintain the melody of a song, but these lyrics felt heavy and esoteric while still living harmoniously over the music. But I needed more— and I couldn’t think of anything else to do, and honestly, I barely understood what the song meant to me. I thought a breakdown of the meter would help me template it out, and “fill in the blanks.” Turned out, Chat GPT had nothing extra to give me on the meter, as it was thoroughly irregular, and only exhibited an abundance of slant for the rhymes.

So, since I was already in conversation with the AI, I asked it what it thought the song meant. The response I was given really blew my mind:

Interpreting the meaning of a song is a subjective process and can vary depending on the listener's perspective. However, based on the lyrics you provided, the song seems to be about the concept of eternal youth and the passing of time.

The first verse describes a scene of young men gathered around a fire, symbolizing the energy and vibrancy of youth. However, this youthful energy is juxtaposed with the image of a burning pyre, which could represent the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death.

The chorus mentions animals like squirrels and eagles, which could symbolize the natural world and the indifference of nature to the human experience. The repetition of the phrase "my love is the same as yesterday" suggests a sense of longing for permanence and stability in a world that is constantly changing.

The second verse addresses a "little man" and encourages him to gather his strength and spirits. This could represent a call to action to seize the moment and make the most of life. The mention of the Thunderbird, a powerful mythological creature, could represent the forces of nature that are beyond human control.

Overall, the song seems to be exploring themes of youth, mortality, and the struggle to find meaning and permanence in a world that is constantly changing.

It took me a second to process the fact that this robot knew what I was trying to express better than I did. I often fail to interpret myself well, but I have learned to express very vividly what it is that needs to be interpreted on paper. But I felt completely seen, and it reinforced my desire to involve the machine into my naturalistic poetry.

If Chat GPT could interpret so effectively, maybe it could use it’s pretended understanding to pretend it’s way into some more verses and choruses? I asked it to give it a shot, and it gave me this:

Verse 3: The wind it blows, a gust of memories / Reminding us of all our victories and miseries / And as we look into the past / We wonder how the time has gone so fast

Chorus 3: The river flows, a never-ending chatter / Carrying us forward, towards what doesn't matter / And my love is the same as yesterday / But tomorrow might bring something new to say

Verse 4: We chase our dreams, like fireflies in the night / But they elude us, always out of sight / And as we grow old, the fire dims / But our passion still burns within

Chorus 4: The stars they shine, a distant and faint glimmer / Reminding us that life is but a shimmer / And my love is the same as yesterday / But every moment counts, in its own way

Besides the complete ignoring of my repeated chorus refrain, the AI gave me something distinctly mediocre. Misuse of metaphors, clunky flow, an obtuse lack of subtlety. I would maybe not laugh at another musician singing verse three. But I was not to be discouraged!

I lied and told Chat GPT it wasn’t so bad an attempt (I cannot turn off the politeness even with computer programs) and decided to use a technique I had heard working for others. I’d seen people ask Chat GPT to write passages in the style of famous authors, and I thought I’d try my own little AI Daniel Rossen, of Grizzly Bear fame. His most recent album, “You Belong There,” was a huge inspiration for this tune in the first place. The results:

Verse 3: A forest of memories, like vines they grow / Twisted and tangled, a maddening show / And as I wander through this overgrown place / I try to recall a long-lost face

Chorus 3: The wind it sighs, a mournful melody / Carrying me to a place I long to be / And my love is the same as yesterday / But each breath I take, it fades away

Verse 4: A flicker of light, a moment of grace / A fleeting glimpse of a different place / And as I try to capture this elusive flame / It slips through my fingers like a forgotten name

Chorus 4: The river it flows, a restless refrain / Echoing the sound of my own deep pain / And my love is the same as yesterday / But the future is uncertain, and I must find my way

I could work with this. It’s still not great, but it felt as if the lifeblood of my original lyrics were beginning to pump through it. All it needed was to be resuscitated, so I got to work editing. I took bits and pieces from across the four stanzas, and transformed them into the best two I could do. Here is what I ended up with:

The “AI Daniel Rossen” stanzas:

Verse 3: Memory, forests, growing like a madd’ning vine / twist and tangle, upwards in the downwards time / overgrown and deep-green space, I recall the long-lost face / of eternal youth, eternal youth.

Chorus 3: The wind it sighs, it sings it’s mournful melody here / carry me down to the place— the place I long to be near, / and my love is the same as yesterday / and my love is the same as yesterday.

Much better! And still very “me,” I think. Thank you, AI Daniel Rossen. I believe that in the future, there will be a lot of judgement levied towards writers based on how well an AI can render an effective imitation. This shouldn’t be the case, but it is unavoidably hilarious when you ask for a verse in the style of David Bowie, and you realize how easily mislead a machine could be by Bowie’s constant eclecticism. I recommend you try it yourself.